TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment, in conjunction with the Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks and Tourism, has issued a public health warning for five lakes due to a harmful algal bloom.

If a lake is under a public health warning for blue-green algae, activities such as boating and fishing may be safe. However, direct contact with water, such as wading, skiing and swimming, is strongly discouraged for people, pets and livestock. The lakes currently under a watch or warning status are:

• Warning: Keith Sebelius Reservoir, Norton County
• Warning: Kirwin Lake, Phillips County
• Warning: Marion County Lake, Marion County
• Warning: Marion Reservoir, Marion County
• Warning: Sam’s Pond, Syracuse, Hamilton County
• Watch: Webster Lake, Rooks County

Lakes under a warning are not closed. Marinas, lakeside businesses and park camping facilities are open for business. If swim beaches are closed, it will be specifically noted. Drinking water and showers at parks are safe and not affected by algae blooms. Boating and fishing are safe on lakes under a warning, but contact with the water should be avoided. It is safe to eat fish caught during a harmful blue-green algae outbreak, as long as the fish is rinsed with clean water. Only the fillet portion should be consumed, and all other parts should be discarded. Hands should also be washed with clean water after handling fish taken from an affected lake. Zoned lakes may have portions fully open for all recreation even if other portions are under a warning.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas Department of Agriculture, along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has confirmed the presence of emerald ash borer in Shawnee County, Kan.

On June 6, 2017, several emerald ash borer galleries were observed and a live emerald ash borer adult was removed while peeling bark from a tree, after KDA was notified by an arborist. The suspect tree was identified while the arborist was trimming branches for a homeowner in a residential area near Lake Shawnee. KDA sent the specimen to a laboratory with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s Plant Protection and Quarantine (USDA-APHIS-PPQ) which confirmed KDA’s findings on June 7, 2017.

Emerald ash borer, a pest of ash trees native to Asia, was first discovered in North America near Detroit, Mich., in summer 2002. Since that time, the pest has killed millions of ash trees across the U.S. It was first identified in Kansas in 2012, and has been identified in several counties in northeast Kansas in the last five years. Trees become infested with emerald ash borer when adult beetles lay eggs on the bark, which hatch into larvae that bore tunnels into the tree. emerald ash borer appears to prefer trees under stress, but is capable of killing perfectly healthy trees.

KDA encourages anyone in northeast Kansas to monitor their ash trees for signs of emerald ash borer, and to be vigilant in not transporting any wood or tree materials from ash trees out of your county, including firewood, nursery stock, green lumber, and composted or non-composted chips.