SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah, June 18, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — Officials have lifted a “warning” advisory at the Saratoga Springs City Marina at Utah Lake after the first algal bloom of the year with cyanotoxins exceeding recreational health was confirmed earlier this month.
The Utah County Health Department lifted the advisory after samples collected by the Division of Water Quality on June 5 and June 13 showed microcystin levels of 0.12 micrograms per liter. These values are well below the recreation health-based threshold for a warning advisory, said an update from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality.
Guidelines indicate an advisory can be lifted after two weeks of data indicate that the hazard has passed, said the news release.
The Utah DEQ tweeted June 5 that an algal bloom had been confirmed at the Saratoga Springs picnic area, and warning signs were placed in the area to alert the public.
“Harmful algal blooms occur when normally occurring cyanobacteria in the water multiply quickly to form visible colonies or blooms,” the Utah DEQ website says. “These blooms sometimes produce potent cyanotoxins that pose serious health risks to humans and animals.
The website continued: “Although most algal blooms are not toxic, some types of cyanobacteria produce nerve or liver toxins. Toxicity is hard to predict in part because a single species of algae can have both toxic and non-toxic strains, and a bloom that tests nontoxic one day can be toxic the next.”
For more information about algal blooms click here.
