Ohio Toxic lake cancels race, harms residents

Toxic lake cancels race, harms resident
www.wane.com...

CELINA, Ohio (WANE) - Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and EPA officials spoke to concerned citizens in Celina, Ohio Friday about toxic algae in the Grand Lake Saint Mary's. The meeting was held at Wright State University's Lake campus.

"We urge common sense and caution as we continue to warn residents and visitors about the health risks of the toxins in this water," said Stickland.
Some of the symptoms of toxic algae are:

•Rashes
•Ear and nose irritation
•Nerve problems
•Memory loss
•Dizziness

One couple at the meeting knew the dangers first hand. The husband is seriously ill and their dog died from drinking the water in Grand Lake Saint Mary's.

Ohio's Largest inland lake is poison!
We are told not to touch the lake water or even put a boat in the lake.
This is A huge toxic algae bloom that can be deadly. I don't know much about neural toxins but this seems to be fairly serious.

www.epa.ohio.gov...

Ohio EPA, Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Ohio Department of Health recommends people do not contact the water, do not allow pets to contact the water and do not take boats onto the lake.

www.odh.ohio.gov...

A couple of dogs have died. One died after it had been swimming in the lake, a Golden Retriever I think and another smaller terrier died after drinking a bit of the water. Saw that on the local news here.
I live in Columbus not to far from that lake. I would get as far away from it as possible. I never swim in the lakes here in Ohio, they are the nasiest manmade mudholes you could imagine.

Sickening and horrifying. We only learn at the last minute.

A sign posted at Grand Lake St. Mary's Beach near the campgrounds warns visitors to stay away from the water.
Source

A local Resident said his doctors kept him in the hospital for three days until they determined that his exposure to the water he lives three houses away from had led to an infection.

The mans 12-year-old black lab, Casey, may have inadvertently brought the bacteria home.

Casey had taken a plunge in the lake that has been forbidden to boaters, swimmers, and fishermen. The dog returned home covered in green slime, and the man washed the pet off in the hose.

Casey, the Dog, has died from his swim in the lake.
The man is beginning physical therapy for symptoms doctors said may last a lifetime.

Several other dogs have died due to exposure to the lake.

The Bacterial effects on humans of this toxin is known to be viral.The long term effects are not now known.There is debate about these long term effects, But it is generally accepted that there are serious long term liver damage and possibly carcinogenic.

It seems that the underlying causes for this toxic bloom is the long time high levels of fertilizers and runoff from industrial farming into the lake. This kind of toxic algae bloom is caused by Eutrophication.

Eutrophication - “The process by which a body of water acquires a high concentration of nutrients, especially phosphates and nitrates. These typically promote excessive growth of algae. As the algae die and decompose, high levels of organic matter and the decomposing organisms deplete the water of available oxygen, causing the death of other organisms, such as fish. Eutrophication is a natural, slow-aging process for a water body, but human activity greatly speeds up the process.”

toxics.usgs.gov...

Folks, This is a seriously polluted and now toxic
13,500-acre lake. The Lake averages about 6 feet deep. So that is part of the problem. It is the perfect place for this type of algae to thrive.

Now the current plan is to pour more chemicals in the lake to kill the algae. I guess the neglect of the lake wasn't enough. They will finish it off for sure.
Sad....Very very sad.

I am so very sorry to hear of this tragic news. Is there anything they can put into the water to kill the dangerous algae blooms? I think about how we use certain chemicals for our pool.

Well the real estate values will plummet now upon this National news, also it does remind me of a VERY surreal dream I had many years ago which I have never forgotten.

In the dream 'something' major had happened, and the few survivors or the many left alive were no longer able to swim in or use the waters of a lake in the dream which all the houses were lined around from better days. Instead there were windmills of some kind, metal, and they were somehow the new source for energy.

I wont derail this important topic with my dream but it was so real and I have always been on the look out for signs of this happening on a large scale.

Sad news indeed. That was a wonderful weekend vacation spot. In years past I have enjoyed many fish fry events from fish caught there. There was also a nice little restaurant in Celina that I had visited in years past. A shame indeed.

www.news-herald.com...

This seems to be pretty popular this year.
This is not far from home and I went there to see it when it happened.
It was truly gross and I'd be leaning to the sewer plant theory myself as well.

reply to post by antar


The EPA is going to test a small (20-40 acres) "discrete" part of the lake to see if the "alum treatment" will work.
source

They have another in-lake treatment plan, but I am still trying to find more details about that demonstration test project.
As I find more information about these projects, I will post them here.

I urge anyone who is more familiar with these biological toxins to please help inform us here.
This stuff is truly way out of my realm of expertise.

reply to post by Zeptepi


We have been dealing with a similar problem here in Indiana for a few years now.

Here's Indiana's government website on blue-green algae.

Don't know much about the algae, but it looks like it causes some of the same symptoms as the toxic algae in Ohio, but nothing like nueral damage.

The controversy that stemmed from Geists' problem was that it is the main water supply for the surrounding area, but health officials insisted that the treated water is healthy to drink.

The only advice I can give is maybe create a group as Geist residents have, Geist Watershed Alliance, to raise awareness to things such as using phosphorus-free fertilizer. I will say Grand Lake is 13x larger, so obviously it's a harder issue to deal with compared to here.

If they do treat the water, they will have to resupply the lake with fish. I only say this because of eutrophication, as you mentioned before. The description is spot on when it states, "human activity greatly speeds up the process." Happened here a few years back.

Hope for a quick recovery.