Over the last month, three Vancouver Island beaches have had beach advisories issued for them due to either bacterial contamination or blue-green algae blooms.
On June 13th, Prior Lake was discovered to have an active blue-green algae bloom, so Island Health and the Capital Regional District (CRD) have declared the water unfit for humans or pets to swim in.
Blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, can produce harmful toxins called cyanotoxins.
Visitors to the lakes are advised to avoid any contact with the algae and to keep pets on a leash to prevent them from drinking or swimming in the affected waters until the advisory is lifted.
The algae often produce a noticeable blue-green sheen, creating surface scum on the water.
However, not all blooms are easy to see, and toxins can be present even if there is no visible sign of algae.
Blooms are unpredictable and can occur at any time.
These toxins are known to cause a range of health issues in humans, such as headaches and abdominal pain, and can result in lethal liver damage in dogs if ingested.
On June 19th, Sayward Beach in Cordova Bay also had an advisory issued, but in this case the advisory was to warn beach-goers of high Enterococci levels.
Following this advisory, on June 23rd, another advisory was issued for Willows Beach in Oak Bay, also due to high Enterococci levels.
Enterococci is found in soil, water, food, sewage, plants, human skin, the oral cavity and the large intestine. If levels are too high, humans and animals can be susceptible to a bacterial infection.
Developing an enterococcal infection can manifest as sepsis, a urinary tract infection (UTI), and infections of the heart and brain.
These three beaches are just the latest to have been found unfit for swimming and water recreation. Currently, Island Health has 11 beaches on their advisory list.
The other beaches that have had advisories issued for them are: Willows Beach foot of Estevan Avenue, Sayward Beach, Prior Lake, Fuller Lake Beach, Elk Lake Hamsterly West, Elk Lake Eagles Beach, Elk Lake Hamsterly East, Esquimalt Gorge Park Kinsmen Beach, Ross Bay Beach, Beaver Lake and Art Mann Park.
Art Mann Park’s bacterial contamination advisory is the oldest, dating back to 2015, but remaining active all the while.
