On the southwest side of Baptiste Lake, near the Athabasca County public beach and the burger bar, the lurid-coloured remnants of a blue-green algae bloom lapped against the shore Aug. 13.
“The wake was as green as grass,” Dennis Irving, mayor of the Summer Village of Whispering Hills, said of boating when the bloom peaked in late July.
Irving gave the Advocate a tour of the lake and explained his fight against blue-green algae earlier this month.
He said his children can all recall a time about 25 years ago when blue-green algae would bloom only once in August for about a week. Now, the blooms seem to be growing in number and starting earlier, said Irving; Baptiste has seen two so far this summer, by his estimation, and Alberta Health Services (AHS) issued an algae-related health advisory for Baptiste, along with Calling and Cross Lakes, on Aug. 2.
The advisory tells people to stay out of the water and avoid drinking it: a toxin released by the algae is harmful to people and animals.
Irving said most lake residents ignore the blanket advisory — which AHS says is in effect until frost comes — only avoiding water that is visibly soupy with blue-green algae.
AHS officials stress that the algae themselves are not poisonous: just the toxin they secrete, which is invisible. Officials state that even when algae are not within visual range, the water may still be contaminated.
Irving said no one he knows of has gotten sick as a result of blue-green algae exposure, though he does know of dogs that have died from ingesting the water. But he does not doubt the blue-green algae issue is serious and getting worse, inhibiting lake use and potentially affecting property sales.
How do you win against an onslaught of algae — technically called cyanobacteria — that predate humans’ very existence?
The answer is not simple, said Irving, but he believes part of it lies in a piece of equipment called the SolarBee, a solar-powered device that purports to combat algae by circulating water over long distances.
Blue-green algae prefer warm, still water; the SolarBee, whose solar panels are visible above the lake’s surface, draws up to 10,000 gallons of water per minute through an intake hose beneath the surface. It pumps that water across a surface area of up to 35 acres, according to literature from Medora Corp., the U.S.-based company that manufactures the SolarBee.
“The thorough mixing of the upper part of the lake disrupts the stagnant habitat necessary for blue-green algae to dominate the lake,” according to the company.
The Summer Village of Whispering Hills is one of four summer villages that surround Baptiste Lake (the other three being Sunset Beach, South Baptiste and West Baptiste). Whispering Hills, under Irving’s mayordom, purchased and installed a SolarBee in July 2008 and is still the only Baptiste-based village to have experimented with the technology — and, indeed, the only lake in northern Alberta equipped with a SolarBee.
Five years on, Irving said he has no doubt the SolarBee has improved water conditions at what’s colloquially known as Boat Launch Beach in his village, near which the SolarBee has been operating since 2010 (previously, it was in a 20-acre cove).
“As long as there isn’t wind, then (the SolarBee) cleans (algae) up in a couple of days,” said Irving.
The SolarBee is sold in Canada by Sherwood Park-based H20 Logics Inc.
Martine Pawlowski is the general manager of H20 Logics, and she said that although Baptiste is the only lake in northern Alberta with a SolarBee, the device is often used in other freshwater applications like reservoirs, ponds and oilsands-related bodies of water.
Across Alberta, SolarBees are installed in about 10 lakes, said Pawlowski.
She reiterated the SolarBee generally circulates water over a 30- to 35-acre surface area; however, the shape of the lake can affect its range.
Henderson Lake in Lethbridge, a 60-acre manmade lake, has five SolarBees; Baptiste Lake has one and is nearly 2,500 acres.
“With one machine, we cannot do much, but it helps with their little beach there,” said Pawlowski.
Irving has tried to get the other summer villages on board to purchase four more SolarBees, but the cost — approximately $65,000 per SolarBee — is a deterrent.
Irving said the SolarBee’s lifespan is indefinite, and for a service fee of about $6,000 annually, all installation and repair costs are covered. So far, a new computer panel has been installed, and a tear in the intake tube has been repaired.
Pawlowski notes at a couple of lakes — Sylvan and Pine — individuals have privately installed the SolarBee. But potential customers often ask her why the government doesn’t cover the cost.
Irving said he would never expect the provincial government to foot the whole bill for a SolarBee, but would like the province to consider paying for about half the cost.
He acknowledged with all the flooding in southern Alberta, it’s now even more unlikely the province will consider paying for SolarBees.
“I don’t know if there’s going to be money left to go around for any projects in the next little while,” said Irving.
The price is not the only sticky subject. SolarBees’ usefulness in large bodies of water is contentious in some quarters and unremarked upon in others.
A spectrum of opinions exist on the ability of long-distance circulation to mitigate blue-green algae growth in lakes.
David Schindler, a professor of ecology at the University of Alberta, said, “I think it is fair to say that the consensus of scientists is that aeration is a questionable solution.”
Schindler said devices like the SolarBee may be effective in “very small lakes where they can keep the water oxygenated full-time,” adding that they are not viable in a lake the size of Baptiste.
Pawlowski pointed to scientific papers that have found solar-powered circulation strongly suppresses algae blooms and is more environmentally friendly than chemical treatments. She highlighted papers published in Harmful Algae and Toxicon jounals. Both listed a SolarBee employee as the lead author but were peer-reviewed.
Arin MacFarlane Dyer, program manager for the Alberta Lake Management Society (ALMS), said the organization has no position on SolarBees.
Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development has noted that SolarBees “may work in localized areas” to “reduce surface buildup of algal scums,” but conversely may also “spread localized impacts” to a lake’s detriment.
Irving said he has seen the evidence that the SolarBee helps, though it is not a cure-all.
He said every year, a crew of H20 Logics employees installs the SolarBee in Baptiste in the spring and removes it in the fall. They test the water for clarity and oxygen in the same spots each visit and issue reports with the results.
“I’ve made those reports available to the naysayers,” said Irving, adding that when people have made up their mind about the SolarBee, it is difficult to sway them.
Irving said he has conducted his own water clarity tests, comparing water near the SolarBee with water near the centre of the lake, and has always been impressed by the difference.
Irving stresses that SolarBees are not a complete solution to blue-green algae blooms. MacFarlane Dyer recently met with him and representatives from Island Lake, and all agreed that looking at ways to control the nutrients (primarily phosphorous) on which blue-green algae rely is paramount.
Irving said MacFarlane Dyer pointed out, “We’ve got to find out where the phosphates are coming from — and there’s probably three or four different places that the phosphates are coming from — and then try and figure out how we’re going to slow it down.”
Irving is helping get a Baptiste/Island Lakes Stewardship (BILS) Group off the ground this fall — a new iteration of a watershed group that fell apart about three years ago, he said. He hopes the group will develop a comprehensive plan to deal with all issues facing the two lakes.
Schindler is also adamant that phosphorous sources must be controlled, and says the only way this can be achieved is to curb development on lakes.
Irving said curbing development is simply not going to happen.
“To me, the scientists who say that — it’s sort of a cop-out,” he said, adding, however, “You can make developers more responsible.”
Runoff from septic fields can add phosphorous to lakes, and Irving said measures have already been taken to address this. He stated all the summer villages surrounding Baptiste Lake have passed strict sewage laws in the last three years ensuring only septic tanks that can be pumped out are allowed.
He acknowledged that some villages are only beginning work on improving septic systems now.
Irving said each summer village has slightly different mandatory setbacks from the water’s edge — areas that must be left undisturbed and full of natural vegetation that helps prevent phosphorous-laden soil from eroding into the lake.
He said not every resident respects the setbacks, though. Some properties are clear-cut right to the water’s edge.
Despite the uphill battle, Irving has high hopes for the revitalized watershed group. He hopes BILS will look at how places like Pigeon Lake approach blue-green algae. And he is interested in technologies other than the SolarBee, such as Phoslock, a substance that is advertised as binding to phosphorous and eliminating it from the water column.
