Algae toxin added to Klamath River quality standards
Tiny toxins produced by bright green algae along the Klamath River in Siskiyou County have been added by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to a list of factors to be considered while forming new water quality standards for the river.
The Iron Gate Dam is one of a string of four power dams on the river owned by Portland, Ore.-based PacifiCorp. While the company is attempting to win a new 50-year federal license to continue operating the dams, environmentalists, as well as farmers above the dams and fisherman below them, have called for their removal.
And the algae is another reason to remove them, environmentalists say.
“They are the things that create skin rashes,” said Peter Kozelka, a scientist in the EPA’s San Francisco office.
The toxins also can cause liver problems and tumors.
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