Quebec blue-green algae problem overblown: researcher

A blue-green algae problem that has closed Quebec beaches and led to drinking water bans across the province is being blown out of proportion, says a biologist who studies freshwater organisms.

Blooms of blue-green algae or cyanobacteria, microorganisms that may produce substances irritating or toxic to humans, have been reported in Quebec at a record rate in 2007, shutting down a Gatineau Park beach for the first time earlier this week.

Earlier in July, Quebec environment ministry officials said the problem had reached crisis proportions.

But most blue-green algae blooms in Quebec lakes and waterways are not dangerous, and listing them, as the government does, is misleading, said Yves Prairie, who teaches biology at the University of Quebec at Montreal and whose research includes studies of bacterial growth in lakes.

"Blue-green algal blooms have been seen there. It doesn't mean they are widespread, it doesn't mean that they are toxic," Prairie told CBC News on Wednesday.

Quebec's Health Ministry keeps an online list of reported cases of blue-green algae or cyanobacteria, microorganisms that sometimes form clumps or blooms in warm, slow-moving water and may produce toxins.

As of July 26, the list contained more than 70 lakes, rivers, reservoirs and creeks in the province, including some where swimming and drinking water bans have been imposed.

But only about 10 are serious, Prairie said.

Blooms occur in Ontario too

Most are not dangerous, and are similar to blooms that happen in many places, Prairie said.

"Ontario lakes, just like Quebec lakes, have episodic cyanobacterial blooms," he said. "Quebec has chosen to report those, Ontario has decided not to."

A spokesman for the Federation of Ontario Cottagers' Associations said his group keeps an eye on Ontario's blue-green algae blooms in partnership with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

"We monitor … using our volunteers, thousands of lakes across the province and have done so for about 30 years," he said.

Ontario environment ministry officials said just over a dozen cases of blue-green algae contamination have been reported in the province over the past three years.