Montreal Gazette
August 12, 2007
Blue-Green Algae
Concerns World Experts
By Anne Sutherland
MONTREAL — At a time when blue-green algae
is choking lakes in many parts of Canada, 1,500 experts from 61 countries are
meeting in Montreal this week to discuss the problems confronting the world’s
fresh water.
The blue-green algae found in our waterways are microscopic organisms that
in the right conditions can proliferate and form a bloom, emitting toxins that
are a potential health hazard for humans and animals.
The Quebec provincial health and social services department currently has 107
lakes and rivers on a watch list of bodies of water affected by blue-green
algae.
It has also been found in lakes in Ontario and Manitoba.
During the conference, scientists, researchers and university professors will
be presenting the results of experiments, surveys and all the collected data on
the impact of residential development on lakefronts. It seems the insatiable
appetite of baby boomers that want to retire on a lakeshore property is one of
the causes of the proliferation of blue-green algae.
Summer cottages are being converted to full-time homes and with that come
phosphate laden dishwasher water, which feeds the algae. Also compounding the
situation are heavily farmed areas close by fresh water sources, with the
resultant pesticides and fertilizers leaching into the ground and running off
into the lakes and rivers.
But Canada is not unique. Blue-green algae is a problem around the world,
says David Bird, a biology professor at Universite du Quebec a Montreal.
“The rest of the world has known about this forever and have become blaze,”
Bird said at a pre-convention information meeting Sunday. “It’s a world
situation, there are problem areas everywhere,” he said, pointing to Lake
Okeechobee in Florida which is permanently covered with a thick coat of algae
and the Baltic Sea which has a bloom of blue-green algae thousands of meters
wide.
The organism that makes blue-green algae needs phosphorus and nitrogen to
exist. Both of these properties are the major components in fertilizers.
A proliferation of algae can de-oxidize a lake or stream, said
Marie-Andree Fallu, who works with Groupe de Recherche Interuniversitaire de
Limnologie, a group of universities that pool their research on fresh
water sources.
“The other things that can lead to blue-green algae are over forestation
and improperly maintained septic systems,” Fallu said.
“The risk is real; blue-green algae has caused illness and death, so you
cannot ignore this,” Bird said.
“We had some extreme weather in 2005 and 2006, so what we’re seeing in terms of
algae in 2007 is kind of like a hangover.”