Burk

What’s In A Name? The Cyanobacterial Bloom On A Different ‘Three Mile Lake’

April/May 2006

Many stories in both newspapers and cottage-related magazines have been written about the cyanobacterial bloom which occurred in the Muskoka Lakes District in September 2005. While many algae blooms occur in freshwater lakes, they are usually inconsequential. What set the algae problem apart at Three Mile Lake in Muskoka was the fact that this particular algae problem was harmful to the lake and potentially to its inhabitants (human and animal alike). The result was a warning against swimming and against using lake water for virtually any other cottage-related water activity (i.e. drinking, showering and washing dishes). The problem moved from a ‘nuisance’ to a ‘public health issue’.

Those who know about Three Mile Lake in the Almaguin Highlands / Parry Sound District will naturally confuse these two lakes (they are less than an hour’s drive apart, but in different districts). The TMLCC has received a number of queries from prospective land purchasers, or from people who have had past relationships with Three Mile Lake, wondering if the problems occurred at ‘our’ Three Mile Lake. We at Three Mile Lake in Parry Sound can take solace in the fact that this story is not about us. However, it does not hurt to use this as a reminder that there are some precautions we can take as lakeside landowners to ensure that we are not the subject of one of these articles in future.

In the article ‘What Happened Last Summer at Three Mile Lake’ by Ray Ford in the April/May 2006 issue of Cottage Life magazine, the author provided a set of tips on ‘How to stop your lake from turning blue-green’. These included:

- Scrapping the lawn in favour of natural groundcover. Don’t use fertilizers or pesticides.

- Helping keep nutrients out of the water by maintaining natural vegetation along the shoreline (on land and in water) and keeping your property well forested.

- Using phosphate-free detergents and cleaners.

- Maintaining the septic system and having it pumped regularly. Avoid bleaches and anti-bacterial soaps, which disrupt septic-system function.

- Minimizing boat wake so as not to churn up lake sediment.

- Reducing hard surfaces around the cottage to cut storm-water runoff. Opt for permeable stone and gravel instead of concrete and asphalt.

- Supporting your Lake association and Lake Steward.

So far, any algae issues at ‘our’ Three Mile Lake have been harmless (see the article on our ‘News’ link entitled ‘Sending Our Fondest Sediments – The Story of Gleotrichia’). Let’s all do our best to keep it that way!