A Longs Lake resident says she’s concerned with the amount of time it took the Town of Huntsville to post signs informing residents and visitors that Longs Lake in Utterson was experiencing a blue-green algae bloom.
The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) posted the confirmed bloom on its website on Friday, September 15. The Town of Huntsville followed suit and posted the advisory on its website and social media channels on the same day but signs were not placed on public access points until Tuesday, September 21, 202— three days later.
Public health advises people not to bathe, drink the water, or take their pets or livestock in the water when there is a confirmed blue-green algae bloom as it may be toxic to people and animals.
Longs Lake area resident Danielle McLaughlin said if the Town knew there was a blue-green algae bloom on Longs Lake on Friday it should not have waited until Tuesday to post warning signs. “They should’ve had it posted immediately.” She said not everyone has stable internet access in the area and some residents don’t know to look for advisories online or they don’t know how to. She said it’s the Town’s responsibility to advise residents and visitors by posting signs.
“It was actually a nice weekend. We all had our dogs out there, there were people kayaking, there were guys that were fishing at that end of the lake as well. If I didn’t go drive around and tell people there’s an algae bloom, nobody knew,” she said.
Doppler reached out to the Director of Operations and Protective Services for the Town, Tarmo Uukkivi, via email in the early morning of Monday, September 20, 2023. Uukkivi responded on Tuesday because according to the Town’s CAO, Denise Cory, he had been ill. In his email reply on Tuesday afternoon, Uukkivi wrote, “The Town’s website, myhuntsville.ca, remains the source of the most up-to-date information for events and issues happening in Huntsville.
“Water quality testing is conducted by the Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit and the Health Unit provides this information to the public through their communications. The Town of Huntsville will link to or re-post the most current information from the Health unit using Town Website and Social Media as the Health Unit is the authoritative source for information related public health matters,” he wrote. “Signage has been posted at the Town’s properties on Longs Lake including the beach,” added Uukkivi. He did not provide an answer as to why it had taken so long to post the signs.
Doppler also reached out to the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit via email correspondence. Asked whether the Health Unit had advised the Town of Huntsville to post signs on Longs Lake following confirmation of a blue-green algae bloom, this is the answer received from Karen Kivilahti, Program Manager, Safe Water, Environmental Health Department for the Simcoe Muskoka Health Unit: “Public beaches that are part of the routine beach monitoring program are owned and operated by local municipalities. If a confirmed blue-green algae bloom is impacting the swim area at a public beach, the municipality will post warning signs in consultation with the health unit. Additional public access points, such as boat launches, will also be posted when impacted by a confirmed bloom or if numerous blooms have been identified on the same waterbody. Posting all public access points may not be necessary if the bloom is isolated to a specific area,” she stated.
“It sounds like the issue is being passed on… nobody wants to take responsibility,” said McGlaughlin. “We’re a small lake. People can literally swim from one side to the other.”
McGlaughlin said the Town needs to put a protocol in place, particularly as blue-green algae blooms are expected to increase, about posting confirmed blooms that may be dangerous to health immediately, no matter when they happen or who is off from work.
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This article brings up some interesting points. Although we were aware of the problem, the writer is correct.
Also the full time and seasonal residence have terrible problems with internet, the name of the lake is Long’s Lake not Long Lake. A neighbouring lake is Mary’s Lake not Mary Lake and it is called Muskoka not the Muskokas.
Wonder if they tell the children in school these facts? Do the teachers even know?
You will notice that government officials are very adept at providing information about everything except the answer to the question being asked.
Is this done by formal training at some point in their career?