OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — After seeing its largest recorded blue green algal bloom in history, the Green Lake Association advocates for greater water quality protection and research.
- On Sept. 16, Green Lake had its first ever lake-wide harmful algal bloom.
- The Green Lake Association hopes this incident is a “wake up call” for Wisconsin.
- EutroPHIX is part of a national organization working to find an organic solution to improving water quality.
The week of Sept. 16, Green Lake saw its worst ever recorded harmful algal bloom. By Sept. 23, much of the algae had disappeared and the water was clear again.
“When we talk to people who have lived their life on the lake, they say they’ve never seen anything like this,” Stephanie Prellwitz, CEO of the Green Lake Association, says. “So last week was the first documented lake-wide bloom on Green Lake, and that’s alarming, and I hope for all of us that serves as a wake up call.”
Prellwitz says about 80% of the lake was covered in blue green algae.
For locals, like fisherman Kevin Keisner, any amount of blue green algae is unusual.
“I was surprised to hear the report this year that they had the blue green algae,” Kaiser says. “There wasn’t any instances of it ten years ago.”
Blue green algae, formally known as cyanobacteria, is an algae species that can be toxic to humans, animals and other plants.
It's nicknamed "blue green algae" because of it's color– it looks like green paint in the water.
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“In water resources, these are really a huge issue, they’re expanding to many different types of fresh water resources all over the country,” Dr. West Bishop, an aquatic scientist for EutroPHIX, says.
Bishop says EutroPHIX is an organization working to raise awareness of harmful algal blooms while creating solutions to improve water quality.
Blue green algae can release toxins– particularly liver and neuro toxins– that are harmful to humans, animals and other plants.
Bishop says the toxic algae impacts the entire ecosystem
“We need to clean this up for multiple reasons- human health related, but also the animals and ecosystem,” he says.
There are many different factors that can produce blue green algae, according to Bishop, including global warming, heavy rain or drought and other invasive species. However, Bishop says the biggest contributor is an excess of nutrients in the water.
The most impactful nutrient is phosphorus, which is found in many things, from human teeth to leaves.
“If you get too much it can really select for these harmful cyanobacteria,” Bishop says. “They love phosphorus, they crave it, they need it, and the more they have the faster they grow and the bigger blooms they can form.”
Lake communities can potentially prevent excessive blue green algae by limiting phosphorus run off.
“We can all do things to reduce our phosphorus footprint,” Prellwitz says. “Keep your leaves out of the lake, if you’re building a home, work with your builder to make sure you have really good erosion protection, don’t mow your grass close to the stream, make sure you have deep rooted, native vegetation to protect that. If you’re a farmer, make sure that you’re planting diverse species.”
Prellwitz says she hopes the unusually large bloom on Green Lake will inspire the State of Wisconsin to look deeper into protecting water quality.
“I think it’s sad that it’s gotten to the point in Wisconsin that having toxic water has become a part of our summer tradition,” she says. “What I hope is that what we’re seeing here is a wakeup call that what we’re doing isn’t working, that we need to be protecting water on a greater scale.”
Bishop says without a national push to find a solution, blue green algae will likely continue to get worse.
“We’re often seeing more and more harmful cyanobacteria blooms, they often start earlier in the season, they’re lasting longer and they’re changing the system,” he says.
