Areas of Floatingstone Lake, located north of Ashmont in the County of St. Paul are contaminated with blue-green algae according to a release from Alberta Health Services dated Aug. 13.
The lake, which has a municipal campground on the shores as well as a day use area, beach, and boat launch, has historically had blue-green advisories during the summer months, especially later in the season, according to Tim Mahdiuk, the acting Chief Administrative Officer for the County of St. Paul.
“We’ve had them at all four of our lakes in the past. It depends on weather and wind direction. If it’s a hot, dry, stale, summer where the lake does not get turned up quite a bit you’ll get the algae. And it moves, it moves across the lake depending on wind direction,” said Mahdiuk.
He said normally when a blue-green algae advisory is issued for a lake in the County of St. Paul, AHS goes to the lake and posts a notice at the site advising visitors of the bloom.
“And then they usually go in and talk to the park managers about what that means,” said Mahdiuk, noting because the lake itself is in the province’s jurisdiction the county can’t do anything to enforce the advisory.
“People, when they phone to book reservations, usually they ask what the lake is like. And then our park manager or attendants will inform them if there is a blue-green algae advisory. It does impact reservations because depending on who is calling, if they’ve got kids . . . it’s not a good thing for sure,” said Mahdiuk.
According to AHS, residents and visitors to the lake should be cautious and avoid all contact with the blooms by not swimming or wading anywhere the blue-green algae is visible and not eating whole fish from the lake, although fish fillets are still considered safe.
“As always, visitors and residents are reminded to never drink or cook with untreated water directly from any recreational body of water, including Floatingstone Lake, at any time. Boiling of this water will not remove the toxins produced by blue-green algae. An alternate source of drinking water should also be provided for pets and livestock, while this advisory is active,” reads the release.
Blue-green algae can cause rashes, sore throat, fever, nausea, and diarrhea as soon as an hour after contact and lasting up to two days.
Other lakes in the area with active blue-green algae advisories include Cold Lake, Chatwin Lake, Moose Lake, and Bangs Lake.
