da algaes, dey not workin
Algae ‘fix’ disappoints
2 tests in Grand Lake St. Marys partially worked; 1 failed
Friday, December 31, 2010 02:54 AM
By Spencer Hunt
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
FILE PHOTO
Blue algae can be seen on dead fish during the summer in Grand Lake St. Marys. Consultant Tetra Tech wants to conduct more tests when there’s less algae in the water.
FILE PHOTO
The algae bloom in Grand Lake St. Marys prompted the state to advise people to avoid all contact with the water and refrain from eating any fish taken from the lake.
An experiment that state officials hoped could provide an effective method to keep toxic algae out of Grand Lake St. Marys next year didn’t produce the desired results.
A report released yesterday by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency found that aluminum sulfate treatments were only partially effective at ridding the western Ohio lake of its high concentration of phosphorus, an ingredient in manure and chemical fertilizers that helps poisonous blue-green algae grow.
Tests of the compound, called alum, reduced the phosphorus levels in the water by 50 to 60 percent at two tests sites and appeared to have no effect at a third.
The report, by environmental consultant Tetra Tech Inc., said the alum should have eliminated significantly more phosphorus at all three sites. It recommends a new round of tests as soon as the ice melts at Grand Lake in the spring.
“Under controlled conditions, you can have a much more dramatic reduction in total phosphorus,” said Harry Gibbons, Tetra Tech’s head of lake-management services in Seattle.
Officials with the Ohio EPA and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which manages the 13,000-acre lake as a state park, would not comment on the report yesterday. Spokesmen for both agencies said they need to meet next week before deciding what to do.
The results were disappointing for Grand Lake area residents who want to keep the algae and their health-threatening liver and nerve toxins from returning next year.
Fed by manure that ran off nearby farms, the algae grew so thick in the lake this past summer that the state warned people not to touch the water, take boats out on the lake or eat any fish they caught there. The warnings scared away visitors and torpedoed the local tourism industry.
“We simply have to find a short-term fix that brings our economy back,” said Milt Miller, an area banker and co-founder of the Grand Lake St. Marys Restoration Commission. “It needs to be done with utmost haste.”
Gibbons said alum is most effective when it’s used before algae starts to grow. He said high concentrations of phosphorus-containing algae that were still in the lake in September when the alum was sprayed helped reduce the alum’s effectiveness.
He said algae levels will be lower in the spring and a new round of tests could involve spraying algae-killing hydrogen peroxide before the alum is dropped in the water.
Tim Lovett, president of Grand Lake St. Marys Lake Improvement Association, said he’s not sure a second round of tests would leave enough time to treat the entire lake and save the summer boating season.
“We need to get some sort of treatment in the lake or we’ll be in the same position we were in last year,” Lovett said. “I don’t think the community can survive another huge hit from that algae.”
The September alum test cost $61,500, according to the report. In July, state officials estimated it would cost between $5 million and $10 million to treat the entire lake with alum, but they could not identify a source for the money.
State officials’ silence on the report comes at a time when both agencies are in the midst of a political transition.
Gov.-elect John Kasich yesterday appointed Indiana official Scott Nally to be the new EPA director and former American Electric Power executive David Mustine to lead the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
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that last sentence scares the hell out of me, Kasich is a dick and appointing an AEP exec as head of dept of natural resources?!?! maybe i'm just reading between the lines here, but i smell corruption.
source
2 tests in Grand Lake St. Marys partially worked; 1 failed
Friday, December 31, 2010 02:54 AM
By Spencer Hunt
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
FILE PHOTO
Blue algae can be seen on dead fish during the summer in Grand Lake St. Marys. Consultant Tetra Tech wants to conduct more tests when there’s less algae in the water.
FILE PHOTO
The algae bloom in Grand Lake St. Marys prompted the state to advise people to avoid all contact with the water and refrain from eating any fish taken from the lake.
An experiment that state officials hoped could provide an effective method to keep toxic algae out of Grand Lake St. Marys next year didn’t produce the desired results.
A report released yesterday by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency found that aluminum sulfate treatments were only partially effective at ridding the western Ohio lake of its high concentration of phosphorus, an ingredient in manure and chemical fertilizers that helps poisonous blue-green algae grow.
Tests of the compound, called alum, reduced the phosphorus levels in the water by 50 to 60 percent at two tests sites and appeared to have no effect at a third.
The report, by environmental consultant Tetra Tech Inc., said the alum should have eliminated significantly more phosphorus at all three sites. It recommends a new round of tests as soon as the ice melts at Grand Lake in the spring.
“Under controlled conditions, you can have a much more dramatic reduction in total phosphorus,” said Harry Gibbons, Tetra Tech’s head of lake-management services in Seattle.
Officials with the Ohio EPA and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which manages the 13,000-acre lake as a state park, would not comment on the report yesterday. Spokesmen for both agencies said they need to meet next week before deciding what to do.
The results were disappointing for Grand Lake area residents who want to keep the algae and their health-threatening liver and nerve toxins from returning next year.
Fed by manure that ran off nearby farms, the algae grew so thick in the lake this past summer that the state warned people not to touch the water, take boats out on the lake or eat any fish they caught there. The warnings scared away visitors and torpedoed the local tourism industry.
“We simply have to find a short-term fix that brings our economy back,” said Milt Miller, an area banker and co-founder of the Grand Lake St. Marys Restoration Commission. “It needs to be done with utmost haste.”
Gibbons said alum is most effective when it’s used before algae starts to grow. He said high concentrations of phosphorus-containing algae that were still in the lake in September when the alum was sprayed helped reduce the alum’s effectiveness.
He said algae levels will be lower in the spring and a new round of tests could involve spraying algae-killing hydrogen peroxide before the alum is dropped in the water.
Tim Lovett, president of Grand Lake St. Marys Lake Improvement Association, said he’s not sure a second round of tests would leave enough time to treat the entire lake and save the summer boating season.
“We need to get some sort of treatment in the lake or we’ll be in the same position we were in last year,” Lovett said. “I don’t think the community can survive another huge hit from that algae.”
The September alum test cost $61,500, according to the report. In July, state officials estimated it would cost between $5 million and $10 million to treat the entire lake with alum, but they could not identify a source for the money.
State officials’ silence on the report comes at a time when both agencies are in the midst of a political transition.
Gov.-elect John Kasich yesterday appointed Indiana official Scott Nally to be the new EPA director and former American Electric Power executive David Mustine to lead the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
--
that last sentence scares the hell out of me, Kasich is a dick and appointing an AEP exec as head of dept of natural resources?!?! maybe i'm just reading between the lines here, but i smell corruption.
source