EPA warns people to avoid water or risk health issues
By Dylan Darling, Record Searchlight
August 16, 2006
An outbreak of algae has turned parts
of reservoirs along the Klamath River in far Northern California the color of
pea soup.
For the second year in a row, environmental and health
officials are warning people to avoid the water because of the algae.
"If you were going to make a movie of the toxic algae
monster, you would film it there," said Craig Tucker, spokesman for the
Karuk Tribe. "It doesn't look like something found in nature."
The goopy, soupy blue-green algae can make people and pets
sick -- in the worst cases causing permanent organ damage or death, according
to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Tests taken in late July by the
Karuk Tribe, whose headquarters are in Happy Camp along the Klamath River,
show the algae blooms in Iron Gate Reservoir and Copco Lake have high levels
of toxin that could be harmful to humans.
But some think the algae issue and the warnings are
overblown.
K.C. Walden, who lives close to Iron Gate, said the algae is
limited to about a foot of water close to the shore.
"It's not like it covers the lake," she said.
She said she and her husband have seen people still swimming
and water-skiing in the lake because the algae isn't a problem away from the
shore.
"We haven't met anybody yet who has been sick,"
Walden said.
Similar blooms marked both bodies of water, along the river
just south of the California-Oregon border, last year. This year the blooms
are bigger, occur earlier and have higher levels of toxins, said Mark
Merchant, EPA spokesman in San Francisco.
"I would definitely classify it as an outbreak,"
he said.
The algae blooms prompted Siskiyou County Public Health
officials last week to send out a press release reminding those using the
reservoirs to avoid wading and swimming in water that has visible algae; not
drink, cook or wash dishes with untreated surface water; and carefully watch
children. Children are more susceptible to the algae's toxins because they're
smaller.
Despite the algae, both reservoirs are still open. And there
have been no reports of anyone getting sick, said Terry Barber, environmental
health director for Siskiyou County Public Health. She said the algae
situation should cause people to use caution, but shouldn't stop them from
enjoying the lake.
"It's not a lake-closer or anything," she said.
Algae blooms in the past two years have fed the debate over
whether hydropower dams that form both the reservoirs should be removed along
the often controversial Klamath River.
The best way to get rid of the algae would be to get rid of
the dams, Tucker said.
Both reservoirs are formed by dams owned by Portland, Ore.,
based PacifiCorp as part of its power project on the river. Removing the dams
might not be the solution, said Jan Mitchell, PacifiCorp spokeswoman, adding
that other bodies of water have their share of algae problems, too.
"It's not limited to our lake and reservoir," she
said.
Lake Britton, Lake Almanor, and Mountain Meadows Reservoir
are among the other north state lakes and reservoirs that have had algae
blooms, although none has shown a toxic strain of blue-green algae like what
is being found in Iron Gate and Copco, said Jim Pedri, assistant executive
officer of the state's Regional Water Quality Control Board office in Redding.
The algae at Lake Britton can get especially thick, but
hasn't been a health concern, he said.
"It just gets pretty unsightly some times of the
year," Pedri said.
On the Klamath River, the PacifiCorp dams are up for federal
relicensing and PacifiCorp officials have said they will consider taking out
some, if not all the dams, as long as it doesn't affect the rates its
customers pay or its property rights. The Karuk Tribe, as well as other tribes
along the river, some fishermen, and environmental groups, are pushing for dam
removal.
"These dams create shallow pools of water that are
stagnant," Tucker said. "The Klamath is the perfect climate for
these algae blooms."
Walden, who drives past Iron Gate every day on her way to
work, said she sees the algae issue as much more a political issue than one of
health or science.
"It's just another one of those political fights (those
opposed to the dams) are giving us," Walden said.
Reporter Dylan Darling can be reached at 225-8266 or at ddarling@redding.com.
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