In this video feature, Scott Chaney talks to Riverkeeper Rick Eichstaedt about his troubling discovery, and what he’s trying to get done to protect people and animals.
In August, as Long Lake (a.k.a. Lake Spokane) warmed up, Suncrest-area resident Scott Chaney began to notice a greenish mist appearing in the water that, before long, assembled in mats and clumps of algae. What he was witnessing is the most frightening side-effect of the Spokane river and Long Lake’s contamination with phosphorous and other nutrients.
The phosphorous fuels algae blooms, including the blue-green variety–also known as 
Cyanobacteria. Cyanobacterial blooms can create toxins such as microcystins that are dangerous to animals and people in small amounts and which can remain in the water long after the algae bloom has disappeared. Deaths to animals drinking the poisoned water are fairly common, including a recent confirmed report of four dogs dying in Oregon in late August after ingesting algae laden water in a creek.
When Scott reported the algae clumps to the Department of Ecology in mid-September he was asked to collect a sample and send it to a King County environmental laboratory. Under a state program run by Ecology, the concerned citizen collects the sample, pays the cost of shipping, and the state pays for the analysis. In this case, the sample collected was found to be extremely toxic at 18,700 micrograms per liter of mycrocystin (the threshold of concern is 6 micrograms per liter).
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zb4zdFPSUI
To Ecology’s credit, it issued a strong public warning, advising people to stay out of the lake. But neither the Spokane County Health District, nor the Northeast Tri-County Health District–which have public health responsibilities for the respective Spokane and Stevens County portions of the lake–are nearly as concerned as Ecology is about the episode. Spokespersons for both health agencies, interviewed Monday, said they don’t have the resources to actively monitor the lake for toxic algae blooms and have no future plans to do so.
Avista utilities notified Long Lake residents earlier today that it will be holding a meeting Wednesday evening at 6:30 at the Lakeside Middle School in Nine Mine Falls. As Avista noted in its letter, as part of securing a new 50 year license to operate dams on the Spokane River the utility has committed to implementing “a number of environmental measures to support natural resource and water quality improvements.” Algae in the lake is one of the topics on Wednesday night’s agenda.
We’ll keep you posted on what develops.
