Interior Health wishes to advise users of Horse Lake, located southeast of 100 Mile House, that the current algae bloom does not pose risk to human health at this time.
This determination has been made following testing of the water which revealed the algae bloom is not producing chemicals that would impact human health at this time. Interior Health will continue to monitor as the bloom is still developing and provide updates if there are any changes.
As the algal bloom grows and changes, it may start producing toxin. For this reason we encourage people to use the precautionary principle and avoid surface water ingestion.
Residents using surface water are advised to follow safe drinking water guidelines which include disinfection and filtration before use. This removes naturally occurring germs such as bacteria, viruses and parasites. Residents unable to treat their water should boil all water used for drinking, washing of fresh fruits and vegetables and making ice for one minute or use water from an alternate potable (drinkable) water source.
Although currently no toxin has been detected, if the situation changes and water becomes contaminated with algal toxin, boiling the water WILL NOT remove the toxin and an alternate source (bottled water) must be used.
Additional information on blue-green algae blooms is available at
http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthfiles/hfile47.stm
