One beach in Hel and four in Kashubia are closed due to a bloom of cyanobacteria, the sanitary inspection office reported on Friday. In turn, it is now safe to enter the water at the Dąbie bathing area in Szczecin. The red flag was hanging on this beach for less than 24 hours.
According to data published on the Bathing Service of the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate, five bathing areas in the Pomeranian Voivodeship were closed on Friday due to the bloom of cyanobacteria: one by the sea – “Little Beach” in Hel and on four lakes in Kashubia: Municipal swimming pool in Chmielno on Lake Kłodno; swimming pool in Czarlina on Lake Radolne at the Gdańsk Shipyard “Remontowa” named after J. Piłsudski SA., Wdzydze municipal swimming pool on the Jelenie lake in Wdzydze and Bathing area in the village of Dobrogoszcz above Lake Dobrogoszcz.
In the remaining active guarded bathing areas organized this summer in Pomerania – both those on the Baltic Sea and on the lakes, the water is free of health-threatening cyanobacteria and you can bathe safely.
cyanobacteriaTVN24
On Friday, the ban on swimming in Lake Dąbie in Szczecin was lifted. The ban was introduced there on August 15 due to the bloom of cyanobacteria. Restrictions on the use of water attractions at this municipal bathing site were announced earlier: July 31, August 1, August 6, August 12.
The hanging of white flags on the beach in Szczecin-Dąbie means that only two bathing areas in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship are now closed due to the bloom of cyanobacteria: Stepnica on the Szczecin Lagoon and in Mirosławiec – Bathing area on Lake Kosiakowo (Korytnickie).
All closed bathing areas in the country are marked in red on the interactive map of the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate. GIS updates it regularly. Green color marks places where you can swim safely.
What are cyanobacteria and how can they harm us?
Cyanobacteria are bacteria that are considered to be among the oldest organisms on our planet. They can settle in the most inhospitable ecosystems. They can be found in soil, on rocks, on tree bark, on glaciers, in hot springs, in salt and fresh waters.
Bacteria are resistant to poor oxygen conditions, tolerate high pH values, and when they are not present in large numbers, they are an important component of natural water ecosystems.
The bloom of cyanobacteria limits the amount of oxygen and light that cannot reach deeper layers of water, causing the death of organisms living there, which causes the water to appear and smell unsightly.
Cyanobacteria can settle in various ecosystemsTVN24
The seasonal appearance of cyanobacteria is a natural phenomenon occurring in nature. It is influenced by, among other things, water temperature above 16-20 degrees Celsius, weak wind, lack of precipitation or slight mixing of the water column.
Due to weather factors, it is impossible to predict where and when cyanobacteria will appear, or for how long. As a rule, places less sheltered from the wind, with less undulations and mixing of waters are exposed to longer lasting cyanobacterial blooms.
Some of the cyanobacteria found in water produce toxins that can cause skin rashes, itchy and watery eyes, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, as well as muscle and joint pain in people who have drunk water with an algae bloom or swam in algae layers.
Cyanobacteria poisoning can be very dangerous (video from August 2018)27.07 | – The last time we observed such intense blooms was in 2006. At that time, over 50 bathing areas on the Polish coast were closed precisely because of cyanobacteria – says Justyna Kobos from the Institute of Oceanography at the University of Gdańsk. The situation can be changed by a weather breakdown, water currents or wind.tvn24
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