Over the past three weeks, our usually clear Souris River has been taken over by a blue-green algae bloom.

Recently, Patrick Boyle, spokesperson for the Water Security Agency, explained:

“It’s related to the weather conditions, so anytime you have algae bloom or blue-green algae in a body of water in Saskatchewan, it’s a couple of different things that make that. If you don’t get a lot of wind and wave action, that creates conditions that are really favorable for the formation of algae.. It’s just a matter of the local conditions in certain areas and how hot or dry and no wind and wave action on the body of water, because it won’t get broken up.”

Pet owners have been advised to keep their pets away from the river, as drinking the water could be fatal to them.

Scientists say blue green algae are a natural and essential part of our environment and water ecosystems.

I, for one, will be happy when we get some wind to move this necessity along down the line. Listen to me … hoping for wind in Southeastern Saskatchewan. That in itself is something I’d have never thought would come out of my thoughts and onto the page!

Photo Note: Except for resizing, my feature photo is “as shot”. The date of the photo is September 2 and since that time, the algae blanket on this part of the river is solid, with no visible water peeking through anywhere.

“About two-thirds of the oxygen in our atmosphere is produced in the surface waters of the sea by phytoplankton, the minute forms of algae that give the sea its slightly green hue, and which initiate the entire food web of the ocean.”

Jacques-Yves Cousteau