Las Vegas Sun

April 19, 2024

Jason Garrett, water quality bureau director at the Utah County Health Department, carries a water sample Wednesday, July 20, 2016, at Utah Lake near American Fork, Utah. A huge toxic algal bloom in Utah has closed one of the largest freshwater lakes west of the Mississippi River, sickening more than 100 people and leaving farmers scrambling for clean water. The bacteria commonly known as blue-green algae has spread rapidly to cover almost all of 150-square-mile Utah Lake, turning the water a bright, anti-freeze green and leaving scummy foam along the shore.

Rick Bowmer / AP

Jason Garrett, water quality bureau director at the Utah County Health Department, carries a water sample Wednesday, July 20, 2016, at Utah Lake near American Fork, Utah. A huge toxic algal bloom in Utah has closed one of the largest freshwater lakes west of the Mississippi River, sickening more than 100 people and leaving farmers scrambling for clean water. The bacteria commonly known as blue-green algae has spread rapidly to cover almost all of 150-square-mile Utah Lake, turning the water a bright, anti-freeze green and leaving scummy foam along the shore.