Complaints of Illness Investigated : Lake Mission Viejo Closed to Swimmers

The Orange County Health Department has banned swimming in Lake Mission Viejo after more than a dozen people, mostly children, became violently ill after taking a dip.

“We closed the lake for (sports involving contact with the water) last Friday and have been conducting tests since then to try to find out what the problem is,” Steve Wong, the Health Department’s deputy director for environmental health, said Monday.

He said at least 13 people complained of vomiting, diarrhea and severe cramps, beginning last Tuesday, and that his office is trying to determine the cause.

Jeff Miklaus, a Mission Viejo resident and president of the Lake Mission Viejo Assn., said he hopes that the 125-acre, man-made lake will be reopened this week.

Lake Was Closed in ’84

He said swimmers still were experiencing the flu-like symptoms last Thursday and Friday but said there “have been a lot of flu cases” in the Mission Viejo community in recent weeks and some may not be related to the lake.

The lake, which is open only to Mission Viejo residents who join the association and their guests, was closed in April, 1984, after 20 swimmers complained of flea-like bites causing what was called swimmer’s itch. Carriers of the parasite responsible for the rash were found to be three coots, also known as mud hens, and four mallards. The birds were shot and by early July of that year the lake had been reopened for water sports.

But by September of 1984 another problem had surfaced. The aluminum hulls of small boats used on the lake by homeowners were being corroded by high levels of copper sulfate, a chemical that, Miklaus said, was dumped in the water purposely to control certain parasites.

The Lake Mission Viejo Assn.’s insurance company eventually agreed to pay for repairs to damaged boats, and boat owners have been advised to coat their hulls with a special epoxy-based paint to prevent further corrosion.