District ranchers and farmers are being urged to be on the lookout for blue-green algae blooms this time of year.
While there are many types of algae blooms, water specialists say blue-green algae is particularly dangerous because it produces a toxin that can be dangerous and even fatal to cattle, pets and humans.
Warm, shallow water that is slow moving and high in nutrients are ideal breeding grounds for blue-green algae blooms.
Melissa Orr-Langner, an agricultural water engineer with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, said it's difficult to tell whether an algae outbreak is a more benign form or the potentially more harmful form of blue-green algae.
“That's why we suggest if people suspect they have it or they're worried about it that they contact one of the water specialists, but what they may notice is that people describe it to look like grass clippings in the water or if it's severe enough it could look like pea soup,” Orr-Langner said, adding that a bloom can occur one day and be cleared up the next. “It can be very unpredictable.”
Aerating dugouts can provide a solution to ranchers who experience blue-green algae blooms in dugouts where their cattle or livestock drink.
If a bloom is suspected, ranchers should keep livestock away from the affected body of water and call a water specialist to have the bloom identified.
Financial assistance to aerate a dugout in which a blue-green algae bloom has been identified is available through the Alberta government's Growing Forward 2 On Farm Water Management Program.
Following aeration, livestock should stay away from the body of water for two weeks to allow the water to be cleared up.
“Aeration will assist them breaking down the excess nutrients that causes algae blooms, so (aerating) can help with not only just with blue-green algae blooms but overall water quality in your dugout,” Orr-Langner said.
In order to be eligible for funding, farmers and ranchers must have a long-term water management plan and consult with an AARD water quality specialist prior to the installation of an aeration unit.
Ranchers can also talk to a water quality specialist about other forms of treatment other than aeration, but Orr-Langner said financial assistance for those forms of treatment aren't available.
Anyone wanting more information on algae blooms or how to treat them can call the province's ag-info. centre at 310-3276.
"Aeration will assist them breaking down the excess nutrients that causes algae blooms, so (aerating) can help with not only just with blue-green algae blooms but overall water quality in your dugout."Melissa Orr-Langner agricultural water engineer AARD
