Lake Peachtree potentially harmful algae bloom

May 18, 2023

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ATLANTA — Peachtree City officials urge residents and their pets to avoid all contact with water in Lake Peachtree after discovering a potentially harmful overgrowth of algae.

"It was detected in the lagoon that feeds into the lake," Yasmin Julio the public information officer for Peachtree City said. "Out of abundance of caution, we want all residents to just remain out of the lake waters just to ensure that they don't come into contact with the harmful algae."

A bloom of cyanobacteria, also called blue-green algae, was first reported by city officials Wednesday. Julio said that Fayette County Water Systems, which only utilizes the lake for drinking water, were then contacted by the city to test the water.

Later that same day, the county confirmed the lake water to have a blue-green algae bloom.

In an email response, Production and Operations Manager Susan Lee at Fayette County Water System, shared that the county water system is not currently using Lake Peachtree as a raw water source due to the detection of algae.

Peachtree City officials said they notified residents via social media and emails immediately after confirming the bloom.

Potentially harmful algae blooms were recently detected in Lake Peachtree.When temperatures are warm and rainfall is...

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), harmful algae blooms occur when colonies of algae — simple plants that live in the sea and freshwater — grow out of control and produce toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals and birds. The human illnesses caused by HABs, though rare, can be debilitating or even fatal.

Algae blooms are a natural occurrence and can happen at any time of year in any water. Active algae blooms are detected by a combination of observation in site and particle counts from laboratory analysis, Lee said.

Blue-green algae most commonly cause harmful algae blooms, the CDC said.

Certain types of blue-green algae can produce toxins and poisons called cyanotoxins. People or animals exposed to these toxins can become sick.

People's skin comes into contact through swimming in water contaminated with toxins or doing other activities in the water such as:

Peachtree City will work alongside Fayette County Water System to continuously monitor the water. Julio urges residents to sign up for notifications and updates on the lake by clicking here.

Julio said there may have been individuals exposed to the lake prior to the city detecting the algae bloom. She urges any resident with prior contact with the lake before the algae were detected to visit their healthcare provider if they experience any symptoms.