Dolphins remain around the area that once included a swim dock.

The city of Richland removed the swim dock from the Columbia River north of Howard Amon Park behind the Holiday Inn about three weeks before Ironman 70.3 Washington Tri-Cities begins. Jim Coleman, from Benton-Franklin Health District had tagged the dock as trapping algae blooms in late summer and creating a level of toxins unsafe for swimming.

 The dock removal comes just a few weeks before Ironman competitors will swim from Howard Amon Park to Columbia Point.

Richland City Manager Jon Amundson wrote the Observer in an email that swimming areas at Leslie Groves Park and Columbia Point Marina Park remain open. In addition, he said, “Swimmers can still access the Columbia River at Howard Amon Park along the shore in the absence of a swim dock,”

In an interview last year, Coleman expressed concern about the dock and told the Observer that he was unaware of anybody dying from toxic algae, but it can make humans and particularly children sick if ingested. It can be lethal for dogs or other animals that drink the contaminated water or lick it off their fur.

Slow moving, warm water, fed by nutrients from fertilizer, animal and human waste, produce the toxic algae. It occurs in the Columbia River in the Tri-Cities most often in late summer and early fall.

According to Coleman, the health district collects samples from areas of the river where people are most likely to be in the water, around docks and swimming beaches. To protect the water supply, extra caution is taken around the water intake at Snyder Street, he said.

When asked if he thought the fertilizer applied to grass growing near the docks and beaches leached into the river and contributed to the algae growth, Coleman said, “Determining the causes is beyond us. It’s not our scope.”