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Action needed as blue-green algae found in Lake Simcoe: advocates

Lake Simcoe Watch calling on province to develop plan and budget to reduce lake's phosphorus pollution to 44 tonnes per year by 2030
BarrieToday Staff
20240715-blue-green-algae
Public health officials have recently confirmed toxic blue-green algae blooms in the waters of Lake Simcoe near Innisfil and Georgina.Image supplied by Lake Simcoe Watch

NEWS RELEASE
LAKE SIMCOE WATCH
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Public health officials have recently confirmed toxic blue-green algae blooms in the waters of Lake Simcoe near Innisfil and Georgina.

According to the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, exposure to blue-green algae can cause irritation to skin, eyes, nose, throat and lungs. It can also cause stomach pain, headaches, neurological symptoms (e.g., muscle weakness, dizziness), vomiting, diarrhea and liver damage.

What causes blue green algae

Blue-green algae blooms are caused by the combination of sunlight, warm water temperatures and the presence of nutrients (e.g., phosphorus and nitrogen). As our climate warms, Lake Simcoe will experience more and more blue-green algae blooms unless phosphorus pollution carried by urban stormwater and farm runoff is dramatically reduced.

Lake Simcoe Protection Plan

In 2009, the government of Ontario released its Lake Simcoe Protection Plan (LSPP) which called for Lake Simcoe’s phosphorus pollution to be reduced by 50 per cent to 44 tonnes per year to prevent blue-green algae blooms and excessive weed growth and to protect the lake’s cold water fishery (e.g., lake trout, white fish).

Despite the fact that the LSPP was released 15 years ago, the government of Ontario has still not developed a plan or a budget to achieve its 44-tonne target. As a result, Lake Simcoe’s phosphorus pollution has gone up by 25 per cent between 2015 and 2020 relative to its 2009 level. We are going in the wrong direction.

What needs to be done

We are calling for the government of Ontario to develop a plan and a budget to reduce Lake Simcoe’s phosphorus pollution to 44 tonnes per year by 2030.

Our call has been endorsed by:

  • Seven Lake Simcoe municipalities (Orillia, Oro-Medonte, Ramara, Brock, Georgina, East Gwillimbury and Bradford West Gwillimbury)
  • The Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation
  • The Ontario NDP
  • Bonnie Crombie, leader of the Ontario Liberal Party.

What you can do

Please contact Ontario’s Minister of the Environment, Andrea Khanjin, (MPP for Barrie-Innisfil), and ask her to develop a plan and a budget to reduce Lake Simcoe’s phosphorus pollution to 44 tonnes per year by 2030.

Learn more

To read our plan to clean up Lake Simcoe, click here.

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