When a body of water gets little to no rain, and not a lot of wind, it's akin to standing water, a breeding ground for the eggs of parasites.
Swimmer's Itch, a mild rash caused by the larvae of certain parasites, has been reported at the Nickle Lake beach but is also currently affecting many lake swimmers across Saskatchewan.
Nickle Lake Regional Park Manager Darren Wheeler said he posted signage at the beach last Wednesday afternoon, after receiving the first report from an itchy swimmer. He then reported it to the Saskatchewan Health Authority, hearing back on Friday from a Public Health Inspector.
"They said because it's an environmental thing, there's nothing that they can do as far as treatment. It is what it is, with the weather right now."
Wheeler noted that, unlike with blue-green algae, the Health Inspector has no test to run for the parasitic larvae.
"It's brought in by the birds and snails, laying eggs, then they hatch and then go crazy in the weeds," he explained. "The deeper water is fine, because people have been skiing and tubing and playing out in the middle, in the deeper water, and nobody's having any problems over there. It's just in the shallower water where the weeds and algae are coming in."
"If we get a good wind in the right direction to push all the algae out in the deep water, then it would clear it up, or if we get a couple of inches of rain, it'd probably smarten up. If we had water coming into this lake, we wouldn't be having this problem."
Wheeler said on Saturday, the beach was full, with no reports of Swimmer's Itch coming in as a result.
"Then Sunday again, everybody was getting the itch again," he noted. "So scrub your legs and arms, and use waterproof sunscreen."
As there is no way to treat the water for the eggs, Wheeler said the best they can do is put up the signage and advise swimmers to dry off properly after swimming and to shower as soon as possible.
He added that some of the posted signs had been inexplicably torn down over the weekend, but those have been replaced.