2017-08-02 - Water Quality Update #2

The last few days have seen a drastic reduction in clarity of the lake. On Monday (July 31) the water clarity was at 4.5m, down from 6.2m last week, and larger Blue-Green algae scums were noticed at various locations in the morning. This morning (Tuesday) the scums were prominent and moved around all day with wind shifts and calm periods. The water temperature is up and the algae is reproducing at a very high rate.

It is important at this time that you check a swimming area for scums before allowing young children to go for a swim or pets to drink from the lake (especially in early morning). The B-G algae scums do move and are unpredictable with changing winds and currents. When surface scums are absent swimming should be safe with the present water clarity.

Residents who draw water from the lake should check and change filters more often, or increase the backwash frequency of the larger filters.

Drinking water from any lake is not recommended and this is especially true if B-G algae blooms are present.

Everyone needs to be on the lookout for the scums on their shoreline and make informed decisions on how they will use the lake.

Water testing for toxins will be initiated by the Association if water clarity decreases more and there is an increase in the scums around the lake.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Rick Kalte