EDMONTON
Edmonton

    • Wabamun Lake under blue-green algae advisory

    Blue-green algae
    Share

    A health advisory has been issued for a popular lake west of Edmonton.

    Alberta Health Services on Friday issued a blue-green algae advisory for Wabamun Lake.

    The prominent summer and cottage destination is located 65 kilometres west of Edmonton on Highway 16.

    The AHS advisory asks residents near the lake and users of it to:

    • avoid contact with the algae blooms;
    • wash with tap water if contact with a bloom occurs;
    • abstain and keep pets from swimming or wading in any parts of the lake where blue-green algae is visible;
    • cease feeding pets trimmings of fish caught in the lake;
    • refrain from using untreated water from the lake to drink or cook with. Boiling the water will not remove toxins produced by the algae (cynobacteria).

    AHS says people who come into contact with blue-green algae, oringest it, may experience skin irritation, rash, sore throat, sore red eyes, swollen lips, fever, nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea one-to-three hours after coming into contact with it. Symptoms usually resolve in one or two days.

    Water at Wabamun Lake which is not visibly close to a blue-green algae bloom can still be used recreationally during a health advisory, AHS says.

    Blue-green algae occurs naturally and often become visible when weather conditions are calm.

    Edmonton Top Stories

    CTVNews.ca Top Stories

    Singh not 'anxious' to launch election, says his top adviser

    Jagmeet Singh's top adviser says the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election. But Anne McGrath, Singh's principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.

    A man who has brain damage has a murder conviction reversed after a 34-year fight

    A man who has brain damage and was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a shopkeeper in London had his decades-old conviction quashed Wednesday by an appeals court troubled by the possibility police elicited a false confession from a mentally vulnerable man. Oliver Campbell, who suffered cognitive impairment as a baby and struggles with his concentration and memory, was 21 when he was jailed in 1991 after being convicted based partly on admissions his lawyer said were coerced. “The fight for justice is finally over after nearly 34 years," Campbell said. “I can start my life an innocent man.” Campbell, now in his 50s, was convicted of the robbery and murder of Baldev Hoondle, who was shot in the head in his shop in the Hackney area of east London in July 1990. He had a previous appeal rejected in 1994 and was released from prison in 2002 on conditions that could have returned him to prison if he got into trouble. Defense lawyer Michael Birnbaum said police lied to Campbell and “badgered and bullied” him into giving a false confession by admitting he pulled the trigger in an accident. He was interviewed more than a dozen times, including sessions without either a lawyer or other adult present. His learning disability put him “out of his depth” and he was "simply unable to do justice to himself,” Birnbaum said. He said the admissions were nonsense riddled with inconsistencies that contradicted facts in the case. At trial, he testified that he was not involved in the robbery and had been somewhere else though he couldn't remember where. A co-defendant, Eric Samuels, who has since died, pleaded guilty to the robbery and was sentenced to five years in prison. At the time, he told his lawyer Campbell was not the gunman and later told others Campbell wasn’t with him during the robbery. Lawyers continued to advocate for Campbell that he wasn't the killer and his case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission which investigates potential injustices. The three judges on the Court of Appeal rejected most of Birnbaum's grounds for appeal but said they were troubled by the conviction in light of a new understanding of the reliability of admissions from someone with a mental disability. The panel quashed the conviction as 'unsafe,' and refused to order a retrial.

    Shopping Trends

    The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at CTV News. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us.

    Calgary

    Lethbridge

    Saskatoon

    Regina

    Vancouver

    Vancouver Island

    Toronto

    Montreal

    Atlantic

    Winnipeg

    Ottawa

    Northern Ontario

    Barrie

    Kitchener

    London

    Windsor

    Stay Connected
    Follow CTV News