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3. Disease <br />Elk River has a diverse landscape filled with major rivers, takes, forested areas, prairies and <br />low lands. Due to this variety, Elk River and Sherburne County as a whole should be <br />concerned with a multitude of health risks related to climate change rather than one major <br />concern. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) states that Sherburne County is one <br />of twelve counties ranked in the top percentile in overall Climate Hazards. The factors <br />assessed include the number of extreme heat events, the number of days exceeding fine <br />particle pollution air-quality standards, the number of days exceeding ozone air quality <br />standards, Lyme disease incidence, West Nile virus incidence, number of flash floods, and <br />periods of extreme draught. Temperatures have been rising during the past decade, and <br />waterways are subject to specific effects. This includes rising water temperature that can <br />change fish populations and mercury concentrations in fish; hannful algal blooms; reduced <br />dissolved oxygen which can harm aquatic animals and mobilize pollutants; incomplete water <br />mixing in lakes, which can harm fish populations and the water system ecology, and <br />increasing habitat for mosquitoes that may carry harmful diseases such as West Nile Virus. <br />1.1 <br />