Aquatic ecosystems crashing with great rapidity- Oklahoma’s Grand Lake the latest casualty

July 1, 2011TULSA – Sources tell 2News that Grand Lake will likely be closed this Fourth of July weekend, due to an explosion of blue-green algae (BGA), and now, the Grand River Dam Authority is advising the public to stay out of Grand Lake waters. “We strongly discourage any body contact with the water at this point,” said Justin Alberty, GRDA corporate communications director. “That means no swimming or any other activities that would bring you into contact with lake water.” Alberty said the rapidly changing conditions of the algae levels and areas in the lake are concerning. Earlier in the week, BGA was confirmed in several locations of Grand Lake. After further monitoring, it appears there is the potential for the algae to be in all the major coves and areas of the main lake. “Test results from late yesterday (Thursday) afternoon showed BGA toxicity at higher levels than before, and this is a situation that continues to develop rapidly,” said Alberty.  “We strongly discourage anyone from getting into the lake at this point.” An emergency meeting of the GRDA Board of Directors was called for Friday at 1:30 p.m. at the offices of New Dominion, LLC located at 1307 S. Boulder Ave. The GRDA Board of Directors will be briefed on the lake conditions during the meeting. At that time, it will discuss the other alternatives for dealing with the Grand Lake BGA issue. Tests have already shown BGA in Party Cove, Ketchum Cove and the swimming beach at Bernice State Park. “Both the GRDA Ecosystems Department and the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality have monitored this issue for several days, and it’s safe to say that it has rapidly progressed, even in the last 24 hours,” said Alberty. An orange fence is set up along the contaminated shorelines near some of the more popular swimming areas at the lake. –KJRH
contribution by K80
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19 Responses to Aquatic ecosystems crashing with great rapidity- Oklahoma’s Grand Lake the latest casualty

  1. J Guffey says:

    Alvin, I could be over-reacting, but for some reason this really sounded alarm bells for me.

    Thanks for keeping us informed.

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    • It’s disconcerting that erratic and extreme climate conditions are killing marine environments. It’s like life is slowly being strangled out of the planet. When you step back and look at what’s happening; it’s cause for grave concern. You’re welcome…

      blessings,
      Alvin

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  2. Tamara says:

    That is so sad….

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  3. concerned mommy says:

    Alvin: I take blue green algae, called Spirulina. Do you know what the difference is between this “health-hazardous” algae & the kind people consume daily in their Greens+ ? Spirulina grows naturally in only 3 places in the world that I know of, and that is because of an acidic environment in the water. If this is the same type of algae, I’d think the locals are quite fortunate to have this “miracle food”

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    • King kevin says:

      Grand Lake does ring some bells for me to. LIfe is slowly being taken away, makes you worry it’s going to be mass amounts of us not just fish and birds if things continue the way they are. Take care and stay safe everyone

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  4. K80 says:

    Alvin, thank for putting this up, it needed to be shown.

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  5. kathrin says:

    I´m not really sure if this is sad…or? …maybe some miracle that´s happening.
    There are two places in there world, where jellyfish is shutting down power plants…and algaes that keep man out of the lakes. Things changing fast and maybe we see Mother Earth caring for herself.
    Kathrin

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  6. Wise Crow says:

    I have a feeling this has a more sinister reason for this type of algae. With all the environmental changes we should watch this closely and anyone who can do testing should on their on because the Gov is not known for truth. Hope some of you locals with knowledge do some work here.

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  7. David says:

    Does the gov. have any projects around this lake were does it feed into ?

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  8. Levi S. says:

    I do not believe it to be the work of the Government. I truly believe that this is mother nature being “Under Attack” by the ever rapidly changing climate due to global warming. We have heated up this planet so rapidly with our pollution that the planet is getting ready to take a big sneeze and when that happens….. good bye humanity. The earth is just as much alive as we humans are and it is all the circle of life and when we start to see patterns such as these then it is a dire warning sign that we humans may not have much longer ourselves on this planet. For when we go, the planet shall remain and in time, the planet will heal itself but it can never heal itself as long as we humans continue to do the devastation that we do on a daily basis. The oceans are going extinct because of many different factors and the oceans do not have the ability to repair themselves because they cannot keep up with all the pollution and overfishing so is it no surprise that other ecosystems are dying out as well and showing rapid change or decline without being able to rebuild themselves? We are too many, too much and too toxic to this planet and our way of life will be our own demise someday and possibly someday soon I fear. I pray for us all and I pray for the planet.

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  9. suziebanshee says:

    Very interesting blog. I have really enjoyed reading it as I too am concerned about environmental issues. However, I would like to correct a misnomer in the title of this particular post. A lake is a lentic ecosystem and not marine. They are both aquatic ecosystems, but a marine ecosystem is typically saline and is of the sea/oceans or originates there. It is a simple and common mistake, but it really caught me off guard–at first I second guessed my geographic knowledge of Oklahoma, like maybe all this time it has had access to the Gulf Coast and I was completely ignorant!…But then this body of water you speak of would be a bay and not a lake. 😉

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  10. Greg says:

    Question: what toxins does decaying algae release?
    Found a list of “marine” algae decay toxins that are naturally occuring, and looked no further, figured it would be the same for fresh water systems.
    “Synthia”, the first synthetic bacteria, developed by Craig Ventor. “The oil is all gone”, remember that one, referring to the gulf oil? It’s still showing up though.
    Bacteria does eat oil, and synthetic bacteria would too, if designed to do so. What can synthetic bacteria gene transfer to? mammals, algae? What else will it consume once inside the cells of mammals? Will it further transfer to other organisms? Further mutated?
    The titanic is being eaten by a “previously unknown bacteria”?, according to many mainstream news feeds.(NY Post, Discovery News, many more)
    It appears “synthia” was released in the corexit, do your own due diligence, but it looks that way to me.

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  11. aniezio says:

    Yeah, algae is not really algae at all. It has been reclassified as bacteria…..

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  12. Jeeen says:

    The run-off from chemical fertilizers into lakes are a common cause of algae issues. There is no need for these fertilizers either; natural substitutes exist.

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