Researchers Are Studying Samples of Potential Toxic Algae Found in Lake Superior

Brenda Lafrancois, of the National Parks Service, said she noticed how green the water was in Lake Superior in the Cornucopia Wisconsin area last Thursday and confirmed that an algae bloom was happening.

Lafrancois reached out to a team from the University of Minnesota Duluth who quickly came out to Cornucopia to retrieve samples and do some testing to see what causes these types of algae blooms to form in the water.

The green discolored water was only found on the shore, but there was quite a bit of it. University of Minnesota Duluth  research student Kaitlin Reinl said that Lake Superior water is very pristine but they have seen signs of this bacterial bloom happen over the last 5-6 years.

According to the National Parks Service algae blooms happen when the algae grows too much or too rapidly which in some cases can be dangerous because some types of algae are toxic to humans, animals and the environment.

The team hopes to come back with good news about the samples and give people the green light that the water does not contain any toxic algae. For more on this story Click Here.