We are now in a total fire ban for Muskoka.

https://muskoka411.com/total-fire-ban-for-muskoka-issued-may-31-2021/

The KLRA Safe Boating Committee asks you to complete the survey below.

Safe Quiet Lakes is conducting our third lake activity survey this summer in partnership with lake associations and other organizations across our region. We announced the survey in last week's newsletter and are now following up with a direct invitation for you to participate. If you have already completed the survey, thank you! Please pass this along to your family, friends and neighbours. We want to hear from everyone!

The survey looks at what people value from their cottage experience, how they use the water and what their boating activity concerns are. This helps us to understand the priorities of lake users as well as providing information for advocacy and action by Safe Quiet Lakes. Past survey data has been shared with Transport Canada, municipalities, the OPP and boating organizations.

Click the link below to go to the survey.  

www.surveymonkey.ca/r/SQL2021

Please take 10-15 minutes of your valuable time to respond. 

This survey closes Monday, July 12th, 2021. 

This year has been an interesting year - but in ways we never imagined.
On behalf of the Kahshe Lake Ratepayers Association I would like to send our best wishes to you and your family for health and happiness in the coming year.
Stay well, stay safe and enjoy this holiday season.

Margaret Taylor
President of KLRA

As noted in the December 5, 2020 news item below, the harmful algal bloom detected in November in the Oak Road area has now been considered resolved by the Simcoe Muskoka Health Unit. If you would like additional detail on the investigation findings, that information has now been included in the Lake Health portal of the KLRA's web site. Just go to Algal Alerts and the link within the Overview document will take you to the updated document (or click here).

Ron Pearson - Lake Steward

Just received a note via Muskoka411 News that the Kahshe Lake algal alert that was issued on November 11, 2020 was lifted Dec 4, 2020. As such, the water sample collected by the Ministry on November 24 has come back as not detected for microcystin.

I checked the Simcoe Muskoka Health Unit's algal tracking page and can confirm that It now shows as "RESOLVED".

Ron Pearson, Lake Steward

FOCA has created a new e-list for updates on the Electricity issue.

https://foca.on.ca/electricity-pricing/

Good news! The analysis results for the sample collected by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) on Nov 9 have come back as not detected. However, as the release of toxins can occur as the bloom cells die off, the MECP will be re-sampling for toxin analysis again this week to confirm that the bloom is no longer there and that concentrations of toxin in the water have remained below detection.

If those sampling results confirm continued not detected levels and that the bloom is no longer there, they will be forwarded to the Simcoe Muskoka Health Unit, and the Harmful Algal Bloom Alert currently posted on the SMHU site will have its status changed to RESOLVED. Until then, the Alert and the associated limitations on water use remain in effect.

Ron Pearson

Lake Steward

I have been in touch with staff from both the Simcoe-Muskoka Health Unit (SMHU) and the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MEPC) this week, and unfortunately, the MEPC’s laboratory analysis of the water sample(s) from the Oak Road blue-green algal bloom [referred to as a Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB)] area on November 11 has not yet been completed. They are analyzing for microcystin, a chemical toxin commonly associated with HABs. Ministry staff indicated to me today that the results can take up to 30 days, but as soon as the Sr. Environmental Officer who collected the samples receives the results from the Ministry laboratory, they will be relayed immediately to the SMHU. This differs from the information I was given by SMHU staff last Friday, as they expected the microcystin results from the MECP to be available by Monday (Nov 17).

I have also noted that the SMHU web site now shows a total of 12 ongoing HAB Alerts, one Lifted Alert and six Resolved Alerts for a total of 19 HAB Alerts issued in 2020 to date. One of those was reported even later than the one on Kahshe Lake. In total, there are now 17 different HAB-impacted lakes in the Muskoka-Simcoe area of Ontario, and this is more than twice as many as in 2019 (8) and three-fold greater than in 2018 (6). One piece of good news is that one of our KLRA members in the Beaver Bay area (west of Boyd Is) had his own lake water and filtered drinking water analyzed for microcystin at his own expense this week, and all three samples came back non-detected.   

I will continue to keep in touch with the MECP and SMHU staff and will update the KLRA as well as the Oak Road Cottagers’ Association members, the KL Community and KL Waterfront Community Facebook groups regarding the status of the water analysis as soon as I get the information.

Ron Pearson

Kahshe and Bass Lake Steward