Blue-green algae at Newlyn Reservoir.
Goulburn-Murray Water (GMW) is encouraging people to be mindful of blue-green algae this summer.
With the warmer weather and school holidays approaching, many people will be planning visits to one of the region’s water storages. However, without being properly informed about blue-green algae and its risks, these visits can easily turn sour.
GMW regularly tests the blue-green algae levels at its storages due to its unpredictable nature and significant health risks.
In the latest episode of GMW’s podcast Talking Water with GMW, Water Quality coordinator Bianca Atley noted some of the potential dangers when making contact with water that has high levels of blue-green algae.
“There are numerous toxins in blue-green algae and they affect different parts of the body,” she said.
“There are neurotoxins that target the nervous system, and we’ve had those toxins in our lakes before. They cause people to have numb lips and limbs and it’s actually very dangerous.
“We more often see algae that has a toxin which takes five to seven days for symptoms to present themselves. Those toxins affect the liver and the kidneys and the symptoms are very similar to gastroenteritis.”
There is no practical way to remove blue-green algae from large storages but it can be managed. Blue-green algae rests on the surface of the water, so, when possible, GMW seeks to release water from storages with high blue-green algae levels from beneath the surface. This ensures a regional bloom is not started by the blue-green algae travelling downstream.
Ms Atley said when dangerous levels of algae were detected, GMW’s priority was always to alert people to the hazard.
“The way we manage it at GMW is to firstly warn our customers and the public that it’s there so that they’re aware of it and can change their practices in the water, knowing that we can’t remove it,” she said.
When GMW issues a warning, it puts up signs at the storage and uses social media channels to alert people of the threat. GMW also displays all the current blue-green algae warnings at its storages at www.g-mwater.com.au/news/bga
Ms Atley discusses this and how GMW monitors the water quality of its storages in this month’s podcast, which is now available.
You can listen to the podcast on the GMW website, or download them from Pod Bean, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.