Algae warning continues at lake

A blue-green algae warning for Marion County Lake was officially continued into its third week Thursday. The lake is the only body of water in the state currently subject to an algae warning.

According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment:

• Avoid contact with lake water. If lake water contacts skin, rinse the area with clean water as soon as possible.
• Prevent pets and livestock — and, as usual, humans — from drinking lake water.
• Eat only the filet portion of fish from the lake and only after that portion is rinsed with clean water.

Upon dying or being crushed, some species of blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, release poisons that range in severity from minor skin irritants to potentially fatal neurotoxins.

Exactly which species and, therefore, the degree of peril is present within an algae bloom cannot immediately be determined.

Marion Reservoir is not affected by the warning.