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Norton, Kansas, had an algae scare on June 19. Pond scum on Sebelius Lake, a reservoir, contaminated a treatment plant with a specific kind of cyanobacteria known to produce anatoxin, which targets the brain and can cause seizures, loss of muscle control and even death.
6月19日，堪薩斯州的諾頓出現(xiàn)了藻類恐慌。西貝利厄斯湖上的池塘浮渣污染了一家處理廠，其中含有一種已知能產(chǎn)生安納托克毒素的藍(lán)藻細(xì)菌，這種細(xì)菌可入侵大腦，會導(dǎo)致癲癇發(fā)作、肌肉失控，甚至死亡。
When lab results confirmed the species of the algae, the response was swift. The town of Norton immediately stopped drawing water from the reservoir, and the Kansas National Guard arrived hours later to hand out bottled water. Shutting down the reservoir strained the rest of the water system, and when it failed, health officials ordered roughly 3,000 residents to boil their water before drinking it. Officials later confirmed no toxins had entered the public supply.
當(dāng)實(shí)驗(yàn)室結(jié)果確認(rèn)了這種藻類的種類后，迅速應(yīng)對。諾頓鎮(zhèn)立即停止從水庫抽水，幾小時后堪薩斯國民警衛(wèi)隊(duì)趕到現(xiàn)場分發(fā)瓶裝水。水庫的關(guān)閉給供水系統(tǒng)帶來了壓力，當(dāng)供水系統(tǒng)失靈時，衛(wèi)生官員下令約3000名居民在飲用之前將水燒開。有關(guān)官員后來證實(shí)，沒有有毒物質(zhì)進(jìn)入公共場所。
Boiling water, however, isn’t a solution. Filters will catch the algae themselves—blooms are prone to causing problems by physically blocking filters—but the toxins flow through. And chemical disinfectants like chlorine, which kill algae, can actually make the problem worse, because cyanobacteria release intense bursts of toxins when they die. “There’s really not a lot that you can do,” says Farrer.
然而，燒開水不是解決辦法。濾水器會攔截藻類——但藻華容易通過物理阻塞濾水器而引起問題——會讓毒素流過。氯等化學(xué)消毒劑可以殺死藻類，但實(shí)際上會讓問題變得更糟，因?yàn)樗{(lán)藻菌在死亡時會釋放出大量毒素?！澳軌蜃龅恼娌欢?，” 法瑞說。
Greenfield, Iowa, experienced a similar scare in mid-July when potentially harmful algae from a bloom on Greenfield Lake managed to slip through a filter in the town water treatment plant.
愛荷華州的格林菲爾德在7月中旬也經(jīng)歷過類似的恐慌，當(dāng)時格林菲爾德湖爆發(fā)的潛在有害藻類成功越過了鎮(zhèn)上一家水處理廠的過濾器。
Greenfield Municipal Utilities ordered its 12,000 customers to avoid their tap water until lab results determined whether toxins were indeed present; tests eventually revealed they were not.
格林菲爾德市政公用事業(yè)公司命令其1.2萬名客戶在實(shí)驗(yàn)室結(jié)果確定是否確實(shí)存在毒素之前不要飲用自來水；測試最終顯示，毒素遠(yuǎn)不止污染飲用水。
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