A leading environmental group is calling for more action to prevent algae blooms in Lake Erie.
Environmental Defence Canada says the basic triggers for algae blooms remain constant, but the climate is changing.
Water Program Manager Ashley Wallis says they believe the recent heat wave has been a factor in causing the current bloom that's closed Colchester Beach.
She says the combination of heat with phosphorous in the water leads to the growth of the algae.
She says while a lot of the phosphorous was already in the water from spring runoff, but the late August downpour in the Windsor-Tecumseh area would have added to it.
"we are seeing more intense rainfall events scattered throughout the season as opposed to small only a couple of millimetres of rain at a time consistently over the season" said Wallis "and it's those really significant downpours that can strip a lot of the soil and take a lot of the phosphorous into the lake"
She says farms are a major source of phosphorous, but farmers are making strides to keep it from getting to the lakes and rivers.
"the agricultural community is definitely taking steps to reduce the amount of phosphorous entering the lake" according to Wallis "if you are applying fertilizer to the field you're paying for that fertilizer so there's definitely a motivated interest to make sure it stay on the ground where it fertilizes your crop and not in the lake where it fertilizes algae"
Wallis says the federal and provincial governments are developing an action plan for Lake Erie, but the current draft is mostly a list of what's already being done.
A final version is expected early next year.
There's also an algae bloom in the Thames River currently.