Toxic Algae Alert For Lake Champlain - Burlington Bay To Ferrisburgh & Port Henry

Just when Vermonters want to escape the heat with a plunge in Lake Champlain, the water in some places may not be safe for swimming.

This week’s hot, sunny and almost windless days created perfect growing conditions for potentially toxic blue-green algae. Widespread blooms were reported Wednesday from Burlington Bay south to Ferrisburgh and Port Henry, N.Y. Blooms also were reported at Shelburne Pond and could appear in any inland pond, said Angela Shambaugh, an aquatic biologist at the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.

“Basically, if you are looking at the water and you are seeing lots of algae — if the water is milky, or it looks like a chemical or paint has been spilled on the water — just stay out,” Shambaugh said Wednesday. University of Vermont lake scientist Mary Watzin said water samples collected around the lake Monday and Tuesday contain dense concentrations of two kinds of blue-green algae capable of, but not certain to, produce toxins. One toxin attacks the nervous system, the other the liver.

Tests to be completed today at UVM will answer the toxicity question. (Updates on the status of algae blooms are available on the state Health Department website, www.healthvermont.gov. Click on Contents A-Z, then on “algae, blue-green.”)

EDIT

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100708/NEWS02/100707024/Heat-triggers-Lake-Champlain-algae-growth

10 or 12 yrs ago, before the lethal blooms had become well known. It has been dubbed "the rise of slime" by scientists and is proliferating exponentially as global warming progresses. RIP poor Thistledown.

Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine.

:thumbsup:

but phosphorus, global warming and invasive species will take their toll....

:(