09/06/12 Joe Toth from Lake of the Woods appeared before the Marshall County Commissioners this week to discuss concerns he has with testing of the lakes within the county.
Toth said, “There are problems on our lakes that started in 2011 and IDEM and the DNR say they can’t test the lakes because they are private.” He then asked the Commissioners to set up a fund in the Health Department budget.
Mr. Toth said he had an issue with some terrible smelling muck. The DNR came out and took four samples and two days later called him and said, “You have some kind of a problem but it’s not our problem, it’s the Marshall County Health Department’s.”
After contacting the Health Department Toth said Jerry Fussell found them a company that would do one free testing in each lake. Results for the Blue-Green Algae on Marshall County Lakes are all well below the IDEM warning level of 6 micrograms per liter.
Looking at the results, of the 16 tests completed showed none of the lakes in the county even at 1 microgram per liter. Results were: Holem Lake at .25, Kreighbaum Lake at .12, Myers Lake at .75, Koontz Lake at .20, Millpond at .65, Lawrence Lake at .75, Lake Latonka at .90, Lake Maxinkuckee at the Academy .42, Lake Max at the Public Beach .23, Cook Lake at .14, Pretty Lake at <.02, Lake of the Woods .16, Flat Lake .48, Lake Galbraith at .30, Hawk Lake at .28, and Dixon Lake at .18.
Commissioner Kevin Overmyer explained that the County Health Department has its own tax rate in the county. He then suggested Toth attend a Health Board meeting and ask for funding for testing of the lakes in Marshall County.
Commissioner Jack Roose wondered why the lakes in the county are under the jurisdiction of the DNR but they can’t conduct testing because they are private.
