Our next-door neighbouring lake, Dog Lake, had another toxic blue-green algae bloom in 2018. This “infection” shows up as a scummy surface growth and, due to its toxicity, makes the lake water unsuitable for drinking, swimming, bathing, and eating fish - basically everything water related that you enjoy at the lake. Blue- green algae cannot be filtered out of the water with cottage or home filter systems. Boiling the water can increase its toxicity.

Further compounding the problem is that it takes three weeks to get your testing results back to see if you have a blue-green algae bloom. This is a long time to wait if you have youngsters or visitors who have come to your place to enjoy the benefits of living beside the lake. If it takes, say, two or three such tests before the lake is declared free of blue-green algae, you may have used up much of the summer.

Dog Lake normally has greater phosphorous loads in their water than does Loughborough Lake and combined with hot weather and not much wind, this makes Dog Lake more susceptible to blue-green algae blooms.

However, Loughborough Lake is vulnerable to such blooms too. We need to make sure that our septic systems are functioning properly and that our use of fertilizers is restricted from entering the waters. Having a natural shoreline along the water’s edge helps, and will slow down, or prevent, phosphate run-off into the lake.

It is essential that lake waters, which are the reason that we all come to Loughborough Lake, are cared for so that they can continue to provide the enjoyment and pleasure that we all have come to expect.