A popular Lake Michigan beach in Muskegon is safe for now, after concerns about a harmful algal bloom spilling into the lake.
Public Health Muskegon County warned earlier this week that it found toxins from the bloom in Muskegon Lake. Then filmmaker David Ruck posted photos online showing the bloom spilling into Lake Michigan after this week’s rains.
The health department tested the water Friday at Pere Marquette beach. Michael Eslick, environmental health operations manager for Public Health Muskegon County, said he sampled water at four spots along Pere Marquette beach.
“All were non-detect,” Eslick said.
The test results don’t mean that the cyanobacteria blooms aren’t present in Lake Michigan, Eslick said. The tests were for microsystin, the toxins that the blooms can release into water. He said the absence of the toxin on the beach could mean that the harmful algal bloom, or “HAB,” dispersed in the big lake, or was pushed offshore.
“HABS are very finicky," Eslick said, adding that the health department would likely test again for the toxins on Monday.
Alexis Porter, a research scientist who leads the field team for the beach monitoring program at Grand Valley State University’s Annis Water Research Institute, said the harmful algal bloom on Muskegon Lake is worse this year than in years past. She said there’s no definitive answer yet on why, but scientists who study the water have a theory.
“(That) theory, based off a few of the scientists here at the institute, would be that we had such a warm winter that a lot of the HAB that would have been from last year didn’t fully die off,” Porter said. “So it was able to kind of grow and proliferate early on in the season."
Porter explained that the presence of an algal bloom doesn’t always mean there are toxins in the water. She said it’s common in Muskegon Lake to have at least some algal bloom in the summer. The toxins come when the cyanobacteria that cause the bloom come under stress, or begin to die off.
Porter said with the bloom growing for a longer period of time, thanks to a warmer winter, more toxins could be produced.
“We have found that there are pretty moderate levels of toxin being produced, kind of now later in the summer, most likely due to the bloom beginning so early,” Porter said.
After finding the microsystin toxins in Muskegon Lake, Public Health Muskegon advised that “both people and pets avoid any visible blooms/discoloration” in the lake. It recommended that the city post signs along Muskegon Lake warning about the toxins.
When Ruck’s photos showed the bloom spilling into Lake Michigan just in time for the Great Lakes Surf Festival to begin at Pere Marquette beach, the health department decided to do additional tests.
Though there were no toxins found in the water on Friday, Eslick said people still should generally avoid any water that appears to be bright green. Microsystin, the toxin produced by harmful algal blooms, has been associated with liver problems, and can cause skin rashes as well, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
