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SEATTLE - Seattle city officials are telling residents to keep themselves, and their pets, out of the water at Green Lake upon a recent discovery of dangerous, toxic algae.
On Tuesday, the Seattle Parks and public health social media pages for King County and Seattle began posting warning notices of unsafe water at the popular spring and summer recreation spot.
Green Lake in Seattle, Washington
The warning stage means that city officials have received laboratory tests that show an unsafe toxin concentration is in the water, above Washington's recreational guidelines.
While in the warning stage, the toxic algae poses a risk to health and people in the area are asked to do the following:
- Not swim
- Not water-ski
- Keep pets and livestock away from water
- Clean fish well and discard guts
- Avoid areas where there is scum if you are boating
What you can do while the lake is in a warning stage
- Residents can still go boating
- Fishing is still permitted, though extra cleaning precautions are advised
If you see a red "DANGER" sign, the precautions are different. Water in the areas with those signs should be avoided entirely.
The Washington State Toxic Algae page has more information on the warning and danger signage, including the following:
"This sign is only posted when laboratory tests have found very high concentrations of toxins in the water. There is a serious danger to people and pets.
Walking around the lake is OK, but make sure you can keep your children and pets away from the water at all times. Even a short exposure to the water could make people or pets sick. Keep your dogs from contacting the water – algae will stick to their legs, and dogs will lick the algae off of their fur."
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