Blue-Green Algae Found In State Lakes

Sunday, May 21st 2006, 12:26 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Local scientists say high concentrations of a blue-green algae found in three state lakes should serve as a wake-up call for Oklahoma to start taking better care of its water.

Researchers from the University of Oklahoma and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the results of a recent survey showed the slime, which is known to produce toxins, in Skiatook, Fort Gibson and Tenkiller_ as well as the Marion reservoir in Kansas.

Excessive algae growth, fueled by nutrients, can trigger taste and odor problems in public water supplies. The city of Tulsa sued several poultry companies in 2001 over what it claimed were taste and odor problems in its water supply associated with poultry litter pollution.

The corps survey produced mixed results.

``We've seen algae levels that are pretty high, but we're not seeing the toxins levels that go along with that,'' said Robert Lynch, an associate professor at the OU College of Public Health and survey participant.

Scientists aren't sure why the blue-green algae toxin levels were relatively low here. The same algae have been known to produce high levels of toxins in other countries.

Scientists found the worst case of algae at the Marion Reservoir in southeastern Kansas.

A severe algae bloom during the summer of 2003 prompted officials there to stop drawing water from the lake and ban the public from using the facility. Algae overtook much of the lake, resulting in the lake appearing pea green and thick.

Lynch said blue-green algae and the problems it can bring probably exist in every Oklahoma lake.

``What I hope we don't have is a situation like Marion happen, where we get a lake that we just have to close. When that happens, people are going to stand up and things will get done. But I hope that's not what it takes.''