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This Website is Dedicated to Alvin Alexander Cheyne January 10, 1921 - June 17, 2005 |
Toxic
algae moves from PacifiCorp reservoirs into Klamath River
By
Jeff Barnard
ASSOCIATED
PRESS
GRANTS
PASS, Ore. – Authorities will be posting the Klamath River in Northern
California next week to warn of high concentrations of toxic blue-green
algae that can harm people and pets that swim in or drink tainted
waters.
The algae is the same
Microcystis aeruginosa that has been blooming since 2001 in the Iron
Gage and Copco reservoirs upstream, said David Leland, division chief
for watershed protection for the North Coast Regional Water Quality
Control Board in Santa Rosa, Calif.
The spread of the algae
out of the reservoirs and into the river could boost pressure on
PacifiCorp, a Portland-based utility serving 1.6 million customers in
six Western states, to remove its dams on the Klamath. The dams block
salmon migrations and form reservoirs where the algae forms.
But PacifiCorp
spokeswoman Jan Mitchell noted that blue-green algae blooms happen
throughout the world. “It's not a unique occurrence,” she said.
“Algae blooms have happened before on the Klamath and elsewhere.”
She said the utility has been “funding and actively engaging” in
studies to better understand their causes and find management
strategies.
People living along the
river saw it turn a bright green from the algae last week, said Craig
Tucker, Klamath campaign coordinator for the Karuk Tribe, based in
“This is not some kind
of natural phenomena,” Kevin McKernan, environmental director for the
Yurok Tribe, based in Klamath,
Microcystis aeruginosa
commonly blooms in warm, slow-moving waters where there is a lot of
phosphorus and nitrogen, nutrients commonly running off agricultural
land. The toxin affects the liver.
PacifiCorp is seeking a
new license to operate four dams on the Klamath for the next 30 to 50
years. Though the dams only produce enough power for 70,000 households,
PacifiCorp says it's power that does not emit greenhouse gases.
The utility has said it
would be willing to spend $300 million on fish ladders and other
improvements to meet a federal mandate to provide salmon a way to reach
hundreds of miles of spawning habitat blocked for the past century.
The algae blooms could
stand in the way of a water quality certificate from the state of
PacifiCorp is owned by
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., based in
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Source:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20070927-1923-wst-klamathalgae.html