Humboldt County Grand Jury reports Summer bringing blue-green algae to counties waters

HUMBOLDT, Calif. — The Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury published a report about the pollution in the waters of Humboldt, finding that Domoic acid found in blue-green algae may be contributing to what's killing local wildlife.

The report states, "The Eel River, Mad River, and other Humboldt County waterways have blue-green algae blooms in summer when the shallow water is warmer and moving slowly. That is bad news for salmon, but ideal for early summer algal blooms. The algae then rot, creating an oxygen-deficient paradise for toxic cyanobacteria, which have been implicated in the poisoning deaths of 11 dogs along the Eel River since 2002."

Experts with The Humboldt Baykeeper say the blue-green algae tends to persist in low-level waters and warmer weather. They also say animals are especially at-risk from the contaminant because a dog that ingests the algae can die within a half-hour.

The HCCGJ points some of the blame at marijuana growers, saying: "Although many of the growers in Humboldt County are aware of the watershed and other environmental issues, a few seem not to care... An environmental scientist had analyzed aerial photos of over 4,000 'grow sites in 60 Humboldt County watersheds' and 'found that one in 20 grow sites sat within 100 meters of fish habitat and one in five were located on steep land with a slope of 17 degrees or more'."

"The dogs and the kids they tend to spend a little more time in the water than the adults do," said Amanda Ruddy in a past interview with the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services. "The dogs have an additional layer of concern because the dogs get in the water they get in the algae and then they get out of the water by drying themselves off by licking their paws and that could give them a higher dose of the algae and if theirs a toxin in the algae that could be concerning."

Many different groups throughout Humboldt County are still doing research on the algae and it's effect on the environment it lives within.

June 28, 2018

KRCR News Channel 7

By Dylan Brown