Water quality researcher Jeremy Burns and Keith Foster guided their boat up to a dock at La Laguna Boat Launch in Lake Elsinore — and found themselves surrounded by a viscous muck.
It tinted the water’s surface with sickly brown and industrial-green hues and tainted the light breeze with a musty odor.
“It smells funky out here,” Burns observed as he and Foster prepared to sample the algal film for toxic content. “It’s pretty gnarly.”
Blue-green algae blooms, releasing toxins potentially harmful to humans and animals, are plaguing freshwater bodies throughout the state – from Lake Elsinore and Canyon Lake to San Bernardino County and the Central Valley.
“We have over 40 water bodies that have a blue-green algae of some kind going on,” said environmental scientist Beverly Anderson-Abbs of the State Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento. “Those extend from the Oregon border down (through) California. It’s pretty widespread.”
In the Inland Empire, the problem exploded in August with major blooms causing temporary closures at three lakes.
Silverwood Lake in the San Benardino National Forest was shut down recently to all recreational activity because of high levels of toxins stemming from cyanobacteria, the scientific name for blue-green algae.
That followed a week-long closure of Lake Elsinore. Canyon Lake recently reopened after being closed for five days.
In Southern California, Pyramid Lake closed earlier this summer, while in the Central Valley, Lake Isabella is experiencing problems.
In addition to Silverwood, other reservoirs under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Water Resources that are experiencing extensive algae contamination are Lake Oroville and San Luis near Gilroy.
“We seem to be having more incidents of blue-green algae this year than last year,” department spokesman Doug Carlson said. “It could be because of the warm summer we’re having. Also, the lack of recirculation of water in some bodies and certain nutrients in the water contribute to the growth.”
In other words, climactic conditions are creating a perfect storm for the proliferation of cyanobacteria.
“It’s hard to pin the thing down to one particular cause,” Anderson-Abbs said. “Here in California, we’ve had droughts for several years and temperatures now are very high. That combination leads to low water levels. These are all things that cyanobacteria do well in — warm, shallow water with high external temperatures and a lot of light.”
Compounding the problem to the north was a wetter than normal rainy season in which storms washed nutrients that nourish algae growth into rivers and lakes.
Though not technically algae, cyanobacteria photosynthesize — giving water a green cast — then tinging brown and bluish green as the cells die off. In the process, they release the toxins microsystin, anatoxin-a and cylindrospermopsin. In humans, they can cause skin and eye irritations, rashes and other allergic reactions and gastrointestinal ailments. The toxins can be fatal to pets and livestock.
The bacteria spreads easily because it clings to whatever it touches, whether it be a boat or a bird.
Scientists have dubbed harmful algal blooms CyanoHABs. Their burgeoning presence is prompting alarm among water and environmental officials.
A coalition called the California Water Monitoring Council has created the California Cyanobacteria and Harmful Algal Bloom Network to address the phenomenon. The council has scheduled a workshop Aug. 23 in Sacramento, in which Anderson-Abbs and other researchers will participate.
A nonprofit, the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, released a report in May on harmful algal blooms in Southern California. Members of the group have been studying algae blooms in the Inland Empire, including testing at Lake Elsinore and Canyon Lake that led to their closures.
Various agencies are evaluating possible responses. Alum has been sprayed periodically at Canyon Lake to curb the potential for algae blooms by reducing phosphorus.
With its water level the lowest it has been in years, Big Bear Lake has staved off algae problems with a massive infusion of alum last year and aquatic harvesting of vegetation this summer.
“So far so good,” said General Manager Mike Stephenson of the Big Bear Municipal Water District, which operates the lake. “We do not currently have that problem nor did we last year, but we did spend three-quarter of a million dollars to prevent it.”
Alum, however, does not actually eliminate algae. Overseers of Lake Elsinore, Southern California’s largest natural, freshwater lake, determined algicide and alum treatments would not be cost-effective.
Copper sulfate is being applied at Silverwood to halt the growth there, but could temporarily increase toxins.
“We never really want to have people dumping chemicals into water bodies if we can help it,” Anderson-Abbs said.
As an example of how bad the green goop could get, Anderson-Apps cited a land mass on the other side of the globe.
“Australia would be a good indication of where things are headed,” she said. “I don’t think there are any water bodies there that don’t have cyanobacteria, and it’s getting worse. They regularly have livestock deaths associated with cyano blooms.”
LAKE ELSINORE: Shutdown due to blue-green algae ‘a big bummer’
LAKE ELSINORE: Harmful blue-green algae forces area recreation closure
Contact the writer: 951-368-9690 or firstname.lastname@example.org