The Town of Franklin closed a public beach on Lake Carmi earlier this week in response to potentially toxic blooms of cyanobacteria in the lake, officials said.
Town Clerk Lisa Larivee said a lake monitor – trained to spot cyanobacteria by the Vermont Department of Health in partnership with the Lake Champlain Committee – contacted the town about a bloom of the bacteria.
Also known as blue-green algae, cyanobacteria is caused by an excess of phosphorus in a body of water. Blooms of the bacteria – visible as a green slick in the water – sometimes release toxins that can affect the liver or nervous system.
Andy Chevrefils, an environmental health risk coordinator at the Vermont Department of Health, said the state’s monitoring efforts on Lake Carmi expanded dramatically this year.
“Over the past three years before this summer, we monitored one location at the state park,” he said, “and now there is a total of six monitoring locations.”
That includes 5 locations where trained volunteers visually check the water for cyanobacteria and a sixth – the Franklin town beach – where the health department regularly collects samples and tests them for toxins related to cyanobacteria, Chevrefils said.
According to state data, some toxins were present in Lake Carmi water samples collected August 5th, but not at a level officials consider a risk to public health.
Test results from samples taken this week are expected to begin coming in Thursday, Chevrefils said, and the beach will remain closed until officials deem it safe to reopen.
