Every day last week, I awoke to more and more people sharing a viral post about cyanobacteria in the waters around Portland. Every few hours, a friend would either share this post on their social media profiles, or send it to me directly. I even had a few people email me at Wild Waters to warn me of the dangers of the deadly cyanobacteria, apparently appearing everywhere around Oregon due to the warm water temps.
Unfortunately, the entire post was fake, but convincing friends, family, and random folks on the internet so much harder than I expected.
To be clear, cyanobacteria blooms do occur in my area, typically in the height of summer and in slow-moving or stagnant bodies of shallow water. Each year, there are heartbreaking incidents where unsuspecting families or dog owners have gone to a local swimming hole and gotten sick, and some pets have died. It's absolutely something to watch out for, especially in the heat of summer.
When I saw this post start circulating, I tried to figure out why it had started gaining traction, and whether a specific event or incident had caused it. I found nothing. It seemed to have started from a vet's office north of Portland, but it's unclear why they published it.
I checked the Oregon Health Authority website to confirm where cyanobacteria blooms had been recorded or reported, and there are only a handful of locations in and around the Portland Metro area, and none in the locations the post mentioned. In case you're wondering here's the map of confirmed blooms from a source of truth I do trust to perform regular water quality testing: https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/healthyenvironments/recreation/harmfulalgaeblooms/pages/blue-greenalgaeadvisories.aspx.
This is a screenshot of the data OHA provides, with explicit toxin information and levels. None of these locations are those described in the imflammatory post.
So, I started responding to the posts friends were making on social media, providing the link to the OHA website and stating that between that water quality data and my own experience not seeing any deadly blooms around PDX or Mt. Hood in the past week, I could confirm the information was false.
I had one person block and report me after I posted my comment, and another message me privately that I wasn't the expert on toxic algae blooms, and that I shouldn't downplay the dangers of the outbreak. It seemed, despite the post being fabricated and unsubstantiated, no one wanted to check the facts themselves. I decided to cool my jets and just let the fake post burn itself out, but each day, it seemed to gain more and more momentum. It was posted dozens of times in many local paddling, swimming, and fishing groups. I started reporting the post as scam/false information once I saw people interacting with the post, stating they'd never enter some of these bodies of water again.
If anyone had just taken a minute to think about some of the info in the post, like that cyanobacteria is affecting the ENTIRE LENGTH of the Columbia River (1,243 miles long, in two countries, flowing at an average rate of 99,000 cubic feet per second), they might have stopped to wonder how an algae bloom could be that expansive, especially with the river emptying into the ocean. It's not impossible for a small, shallow, warm inlet with stagnant water could be affected, but the entire length? Absolutely not.
This one viral post with false information caused hundreds, if not thousands, of people to avoid visiting their local waters. Many folks stopped recreating close to the shore, or walking their dogs close to it, because of how alarming the verbiage of the post was. Swimmers felt unsafe entering the water, and paddlers chose different activities on land to participate in. With this one post of false information, the author planted fear in communities that rely on the local waterways as an escape from the brutal summer heat. Additionally, local community organizers were angrily petitioning their local government officials to pay to print large warning signs at the entrance of every swimming hole where someone may unknowingly enter the water, because they thought their local officials were simply ignoring the toxic blooms. These folks couldn't fathom anyone creating such a panic simply to spread false information.
I want anyone in and around their local waters to feel safe by doing research and relying on credible sources. If there is an algae bloom, there absolutely should be signs posted and everyone made aware the water isn't safe. I don't want anyone getting sick from toxic blooms. But in this situation, it seems like the post was published only to gain publicity and cause panic.
Water lovers, please be careful. Be careful not to ingest toxic algae, but also not to fall prey to a panic-inducing fake social media posts too. There are trustworthy sources to glean water temp, flow rate, contamination, and other data so you're fully aware of the risks of the situation. If you need help finding those sources, I'd be happy to help.
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