MLIRD may do its own algae tests

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District is looking at conducting its own tests for blue-green algae toxin in and around Connelly Park.

“We’re not upset with the Grant County Health District’s protocol, and we understand it, but we don’t think it tells the whole story,” said Bill Bailey, president of the board of directors overseeing the irrigation district.

For the last several years, Moses Lake has had problems with blue-green algae blooms, prompting the health district to post warning signs about the toxin microcystin, which can prove dangerous to animals and people.

Currently, volunteers with GCHD test shoreline areas at several spots around the lake, but Bailey said the MLIRD has been concerned about the health district’s testing protocols for some time.

“Volunteers look for the absolute worst place, and that’s what they get,” Bailey said.

Bailey said MLIRD is looking at regularly testing five sites around Connelly Park — the former Airmen’s Beach on the northwest end of the lake — which is owned and managed by the irrigation district.

“We’re not going to sample the whole lake, just the area we are responsible for,” he said.

The MLIRD currently tests as many as 15 regular sites around the lake and up Crab Creek as often as twice a month in the summer for phosphorus and nitrogen levels, which contribute to the algae blooms. The MLIRD then posts results of the tests on its website.

While it is the job of the MLIRD to manage the lake water as a resource for irrigation and recreation purposes, very few use lake water for irrigation. In the late spring and again in the late summer, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation uses Moses Lake to funnel water from the East Low Canal to Potholes Reservoir, effectively making the lake a part of the Columbia Basin Project.

Bailey also said the city might do the same kinds of testing at McCosh and Blue Heron parks, as well as other city sites where the public has access to the lake.

It would be one way the city and the MLIRD could contribute to monitoring the quality of the lake water, as well as help the strained health district.

“We’ll do our part,” Bailey said.