It looks similar, it smells similar and it’s covering most of Mara Lake….

Ed. Note: as of May 14, the bloom is still there. Possible sources of excessive nutrients that resulted in this bloom include agricultural run-off and the sewage effluent from the Enderby Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Suspected algae bloom blights Mara Lake
By Barb Brouwer,
Salmon Arm Observer
May 12, 2010

It looks similar, it smells similar and it’s covering most of Mara Lake.

But whether a suspected algal bloom is the same as the Shuswap Lake one that stretched from Salmon Arm Bay to Sicamous in June 2008, was yet to be determined at the Shuswap Market News press deadline.

Tina Keeley, Mara Lake resident and co-ordinator of a 15-member Shuswap Water Action Team (SWAT) water testing crew, got a call about 2 p.m. Tuesday advising her that what was suspected to be an algal bloom had been spotted at the south end of Mara Lake.

A couple of hours later, Keeley received another call, this time from a Swansea Point volunteer.

‘She said she could see it ‘ rust, brown, yellow in streaks and a putrid smell,’ said Keeley. ‘She figured it stretched from Swansea Dock to Black Point, close to the entrance of Turtle Bay.

‘From what she could see, she suggested 60 to 70 metres long and about 20 metres across.’

Keeley called the Ministry of Environment to report the sighting and says staff responded quickly, promising to send staff out the following morning.

‘We rounded up a bunch of water testers and asked them to take samples and tell us if and where they spotted the bloom,’ says Keeley, noting that her biggest concern was to inform everyone who gets water from the lake not to drink it until they knew what they were dealing with.

When Keeley and her husband went out on the lake Wednesday morning the bloom had sunk below the surface.

‘We headed south to the slide area on Highway 97A and were right in the middle of it, about five to six feet below the surface of the water, all big huge yellow swirls, but no smell,’ she says. ‘We drifted and it would come around the boat, then it would be gone. Whether it’s breaking up or sinking because of the cold nights we don’t know.’

Gabriele Matscha, an environmental section head in MOE’s Kamloops office, said Wednesday her staff were on Mara Lake collecting samples which were to be tested by an algal specialist Thursday.

‘I cannot comment on whether it is the same, but similarities have been observed,’ Matscha said referring to the 2008 Shuswap Lake bloom that was similar in time of year, colour and associated odour. ‘Their report indicates a threat that it’s likely an algal bloom that has spread from Shuswap River to Mara Point.’

Testing was expected to reveal algae type, concentration and potential risks of the algae to human and the environment, said Matscha, noting MOE planned to release a question and answer sheet once the details became available. Matscha said MOE staff will continue to investigate in a step-by-step process to find both causes and the source of the bloom.

Environmentalists were vocal about the appearance of the bloom.

‘Once again, we’re facing a large algal bloom that is like the canary in the coal mine,’ said Shuswap Environmental Action Society president Jim Cooperman. ‘It points to serious problems in Shuswap and Mara lakes and the need for a Shuswap watershed council as recommended by SLIPP (Shuswap Lake Integrated Planning Process).’

SWAT president Ray Nadeau calls the algal bloom another indication of excess nutrients being put into the lake from various sources