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New State Program Will Test Drinking Water From Lake Champlain For Toxins

A bloom of cyanobacteria, commonly known as blue-green algae, inundates the shore of Lake Champlain in this undated photo.
Vermont Department of Health
/
courtesy Vermont Department of Health
Blue-green algae blooms not only include bacteria that can irritate swimmers' skin, but sometimes produce toxins. Now a new state program will monitor all 22 drinking water systems that pull from Lake Champlain.

A new state program will monitor and test all 22 drinking water systems that pull water from Lake Champlain, with a focus on detecting blue-green algae blooms.

Algae blooms are visible to the naked eye, but testing is the only way to know if toxins are present in Lake Champlain, which is the drinking water source for about 150,000 Vermonters.

In previous summers state officials only tested water if blue-green algae was reported near a drinking water intake. This summer's 12-week program is the first effort to routinely test water once a week.

“After last summer when we saw the water supply in Toledo, Ohio, become impacted by a blue-green alga toxin, there’s been a lot more focus on trying to understand if that’s possible here,” said Sarah Vose, the state toxicologist with the Vermont Department of Health.

Officials want to know what kinds of toxins present in both raw lake water and the finished drinking water.

If any weekly test results show levels of blue-green algae toxins above the health advisory level, officials would recommend that people in that region not drink their water. 

The Vermont Department of Health also plans to immediately update their online blue-green algae tracker map of Lake Champlain. The tracker labels clean waters areas in green, and sections with dangerous levels of algae in red.

Vose says while not all algae blooms produce toxins, these so-called blue-green algae are actually bacteria.

“Some bacteria have different chemicals inside of their cells, or on outside of their cells, that can make your skin red or itchy or cause a rash.”

Vose says the health department does encourage people and pets to stay out of the water if they see any blue-green algae present.

A graduate of NYU with a Master's Degree in journalism, Mitch has more than 20 years experience in radio news. He got his start as news director at NYU's college station, and moved on to a news director (and part-time DJ position) for commercial radio station WMVY on Martha's Vineyard. But public radio was where Mitch wanted to be and he eventually moved on to Boston where he worked for six years in a number of different capacities at member station WBUR...as a Senior Producer, Editor, and fill-in co-host of the nationally distributed Here and Now. Mitch has been a guest host of the national NPR sports program "Only A Game". He's also worked as an editor and producer for international news coverage with Monitor Radio in Boston.
Kathleen Masterson as VPR's New England News Collaborative reporter. She covered energy, environment, infrastructure and labor issues for VPR and the collaborative. Kathleen came to Vermont having worked as a producer for NPR’s science desk and as a beat reporter covering agriculture and the environment.
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