Grant County Health District: Moses Lake no longer toxic

MOSES LAKE — With freezing cold settling in across the Columbia Basin, the Grant County Health District announced Wednesday that the levels of toxic algae in Moses Lake have fallen and the lake water is no longer poisonous.

According to Heather Massart, a public information officer for the health district, district scientists have “continued to sample the water in Moses Lake and the Potholes Reservoir since early September 2018” and that recent results show that toxin levels from blue-green algae have fallen.

“Two consecutive weeks of test results for both Moses Lake and the Potholes Reservoir have shown the toxin levels from Blue Green algae are now below the Washington State Department of Health action levels,” Massart said in a news release.

Dangerous levels of microcystin, a toxin produced by some strains of blue green algae, were first detected in Moses Lake in early September, and then later that month in Potholes Reservoir.

According to the health district, the kind of blue-green algae — which is really a bacterium — found in Moses Lake produces microcystin toxin, which can cause severe liver damage in both animals and humans.

Symptoms of toxin poisoning include may include jaundice, shock, abdominal pain, weakness, nausea and vomiting, severe thirst, rapid or weak pulse and death, and can appear anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours after exposure.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.