Visitors to Longmont’s lakes and ponds should be wary of blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, which can grow rapidly in slow-moving bodies of water, such as lakes and ponds.
When blue-green algae blooms, some species can produce cyanotoxins which can be harmful at elevated levels to dogs, wildlife, livestock or humans that come into contact with or ingest the water, according to a city of Longmont news release.
Longmont parks staff say visitors and residents should keep themselves, children and pets out of the water in any areas where blooms are observed, the news release states. The toxicity of blue-green algae is difficult to predict because a single species can have both toxic and non-toxic strains, and toxic strains do not always produce toxins.
Testing is not conducted at most of the city’s lakes and ponds but the city may monitor, test or close a location if a bloom is reported by staff or a member of the public, the news release states. A comprehensive monitoring plan has been implemented at Union Reservoir — the only reservoir in Longmont where swimming is allowed — for potentially toxic algae blooms.
According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, harmful algae blooms often have the following characteristics:
- May look like thick pea soup or spilled paint on the water’s surface
- Can create a thick mat of foam along the shoreline
- Usually are green or blue-green, although they also an be brown, purple or white
- Sometimes are made up of small specks of blobs floating just at or below the water’s surface.
Harmful algae blooms are not:
- Long, stringy green grass strands that appear slimy or cottony.
- Mustard yellow (This is probably pollen.).
For more information on algae blooms, visit bit.ly/LongmontAlgaeBlooms or call 303-651-8416.
