QUILCENE — Blue-green algae toxicity levels flared up in Lake Leland last week, forcing Jefferson County Public Health officials to downgrade the lake to a warning notice, which discourages swimming and consuming fish caught in the lake.
Anderson Lake, between Port Hadlock and Chimacum, remains closed to recreational use after water-quality tests show no change in the level of toxins from blue-green algae there, but Anderson Lake State Park remains open to recreational activities outside the lake, such as hiking, biking and horse-riding.
“I just put a warning up on Leland, which is really a bummer,” Neil Harrington, county water quality manager, said late Friday afternoon.
Test results received Friday from samples taken Monday from Lake Leland — a county recreational area north of Quilcene — showed a high concentration of both blue green algae and the neurotoxin anatoxin-a.
It is the same toxin that is found in Anderson Lake. Exposure to anatoxin-a can cause convulsions and death by respiratory paralysis.
Two dogs died in spring 2006 after drinking water from Anderson Lake, prompting the first summer closure of the popular trout-fishing lake.
Anderson Lake was closed this year on April 24, the day before the trout-fishing season opened, and “still has an ongoing bloom” of algae, made up predominately of blue green algae of the genera microcystis and anabaena, which produces anatoxin-a, Harrington said.
Lake Leland’s algae bloom is composed of several species of blue-green algae of the genera oscillatoria, aphanizomenon and microcystis, he said.
The county public health department is warning the public to avoid drinking Leland Lake water, not to swim in the lake, avoid visible algal scums and don’t eat its fish.
Some toxins from algae are harmful to the liver. People with liver problems, such as chronic hepatitis, should exercise additional caution.
Jefferson County Public Health maintains an updated database of lake monitoring information at www.jeffersoncountypublic health.org.
The department can be reached at 360-385-9400.
Lake samples are not tested in Clallam County, where health officers visually monitor lakes for signs of algae bloom. No cautions or warnings have been issued in Clallam County.
Algae blooms in Clallam County lakes should be reported to Clallam County Department of Health and Human Services environmental health division at 360-417-2258.
