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8/16/2024
WT Staff
 August 16, 2024 updated 3 pm CDT
DO NOT USE: Urgent Water Advisory issued for Walnut Bayou Water customers in Madison Parish
Madison Parish URGENT drinking water advisory extends to bathing, washing hands
The most extreme of drinking water advisories, DO NOT USE order issued yesterday by Louisiana Department of Health for Walnut Bayou water customers. A water line break on Highway 603 near Verhagen Road resulted in drinking water being exposed to a toxic herbicide, paraquat. This toxin can also be absorbed on contact, must not be used for bathing or handwashing, certainly not for consumption or any other cleaning. In any case of toxic chemical contamination of water, the problem is made worse by boiling. The water cannot be made safe by boiling.
The Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) is coordinating with LDH and Madison Parish officials in communicating with residents and coordinating support in the affected area. Bottled water has been made available to area residents and GOHSEP is in the process of sending additional bottled water.
Water can be picked up at the Walnut Bayou Water Association Office at 1105 Highway 602, Tallulah. Madison Parish officials are coordinating personal water delivery for those who can’t get to the pick up site. For additional support, staff can be reached at 318-574-2463. You may also reach the Madison Parish Sheriff’s Office at 318-574-1833 to request water delivery.
URGENT Weather Message issued 342 am August 16 by NWS New Orleans
HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM THIS MORNING TO 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING...Heat index values up to 112 expected for portions of southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi. Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses.
Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Take extra precautions when outside. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing. Try to limit strenuous activities to early morning
or evening. Take action when you see symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Heat stroke is an emergency, call 9-1-1
Impacting Pointe Coupee-West Feliciana-East Feliciana-St. Helena-Washington-
Iberville-West Baton Rouge-East Baton Rouge-Assumption-St. James-
St. John The Baptist-Upper Lafourche-St. Charles-Upper St.
Bernard-Upper Terrebonne-Lower Terrebonne-Lower Lafourche-Coastal
Jefferson Parish-Lower Plaquemines-Lower St. Bernard-Northern
Tangipahoa-Southeast St. Tammany-Western Orleans-Eastern Orleans-
Northern St. Tammany-Southwestern St. Tammany-Central Tangipahoa-
Lower Tangipahoa-Northern Livingston-Southern Livingston-Western
Ascension-Eastern Ascension-Upper Jefferson-Lower Jefferson-Upper
Plaquemines-Central Plaquemines Parishes
WT HAB Tracker
from the satellite monitoring program of the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science(NCCOS) and State sources where available
Louisiana: The latest upload from the NCCOS was captured August 15 at higher wind speed 7.9 mph. This image is mostly cloud obscured, a view of Lakes Verret and Palourde, as well as Avoca Island Cutoff, the concentration slightly lower in this recent image 700 thousand cells per 100 ml.
The prior image shows Lac des Allemands with high concentration hot spots in the west bay along shore up to 3 million cells. Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas are clear again, no HAB activity observed. Lake Fields is showing a high concentration HAB, 1 million in the north half and 2 million cells in the south half. Check out the latest satellite image from NCCOS here.
Lake Erie west basin
The latest image from NCCOS was captured August 15 at wind speed 7.7 mph, mostly cloud obscured with a view of the southwest water between clouds. This visible part of the HAB presents with concentration 1 million cells around the North Maumee Bay to 600 thousand cells per 100 ml north of Monroe. The Aug 14 image is clear and taken at a lower wind speed, revealing the full extent of the HAB with extreme high concentration hot spots up to 6 million cells per 100 ml, see the satellite image here.
New York
The latest image of Lake Champlain was captured August 15, a cloud obscured image at unknown wind speed. The previous image August 14 is a clear view of northeast Baie Missisquoi appears full of bluegreen algae at extreme high concentration 1 to 3 million cells per 100 ml on both sides of the international border. This bloom reaches south as far as the channel from North Hero Island to Isle la Motte, the south portion of the bloom at 900 thousand cells per 100 ml. St Albans Bay HAB is partially cloud obscured, we see the inner shoreline edge at 1 million cells per 100 ml. Lake Carmi appears clear with no HAB activity; Shelburne Pond is still rocking 2 million cells concentration in Vermont. See our latest report here.
One hundred and sixty-three active HABs are confirmed in New York Friday morning, down from 171 yesterday. First HABs of the season have been confirmed for Java Lake, Lake Clear and Gorton Lake. New bluegreen reports have come on for Honeoye, Hyde, Chautauqua and Red House Lake, all experiencing a new wave of HABs, some of these water bodies coming out of the 2024 archives after a period of no bluegreen activity. Reports made prior to Aug 1 have gone to the archives. See the impacted water bodies list here.
California: WTCAL connected with Director of EPA for Big Valley Pomo Tribe for an update on Clear Lake. Sarah Ryan has been heading up the cyanotoxin surveillance program at Clear Lake, a popular tourist destination north of San Fransisco. Big Valley EPA has been engaged in monitoring for the bluegreen algae, communicating observations with the local population and tourists, communicating with California Water Quality Monitoring Board and directly to the public for more than a decade.
During this time, Big Valley has been investing in regular lab testing for cyanotoxins, aquiring an astute understanding of their water body, including the resident cyanobacteria present at any given time, along with the most critical factor, the levels of various cyanotoxins present. Big Valley tests for specific liver toxins and neurotoxins based on first geno-typing the bloom itself. Access to regular toxin surveillance in Clear Lake makes this one of a very small number of sites for which we can match a visual HAB observation with a toxin level. This work is in progress, more to follow.
The weekly bluegreen update from California Water Quality Monitoring Boards anticipated last week Friday, August 9 has not been posted as of this report.
The latest HAB Recent Bloom report is dated August 2, seven water bodies are posted with DANGER level advisories, including Lago Los Osos, Lake Chabot, Lake Anza, Discovery Bay, Contra Loma Reservoir, Big Break Regional Shoreline and Copsey Creek. Three water bodies have been posted with HAB Warning level advisories, including Discovery Bay, Tahoe Keys and San Luis Reservoir's Dinosaur Point Boat Launch. Caution advisories have been activated for another 31 sites. See the California HAB tracker report with advisories by watershed region, HAB DANGER and WARNING advisories are pinned to the map with bluegreen tags, the full list is here.
Georgia:
No new information has been found pertaining to bluegreen algae reports in Georgia since our last update. Georgia Environmental Protection Division does accept reports from the public of suspicious algal blooms. WTGA.us has requested an update from Georgia EPD, more to follow.
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