Blue green algae - lake treatments

[KinAlberta]

I’ve read where various chemicals / minerals have been considered as additives to reduce algae in lakes. Had anyone heard of successful treatments?

[Smoky buck]

I have used treatments on ponds in the past successfully but it would not be practical on larger waters

[Sundancefisher]

Cyanobacteria is natural. It can be more or less prevalent depending upon weather and water conditions in any given year.

Treating chemicals are all toxic and people cannot use them in public waters ever.

Treating chemically may knock down a Cyanobacteria bloom...however may also kill off natural algae which then leave more room for Cyanobacteria to grow.

Poisoning Cyanobacteria may cause cells to rupture and thereby may release Cyanobacteria toxins.

Falling and decomposing blooms may reduce oxygen and cause fish summerkill.

Poison can also kill fish and/or the food fish eat.

Cyanobacteria is not always toxic however most don’t have access to testing to know for sure.

[KinAlberta]

Found this:

PINE LAKE RESTORATION SOCIETY
MAY 21, 2010

...
IN LAKE TREATMENT

Dave communicated with Lake Nakamum/ Lac La Nonne groups - they are working on iron Ferric Chloride flocculent that works to settle high nutrient solids in the lake. They are 3 - 4 years ahead of us - if their project is successful we should be able to follow with a similar scope.

WEED ALGAE MANAGEMENT
...

http://www.pinelakealberta.com/image...%20meeting.pdf

Bolding mine

[midgetwaiter]

You don’t get Cyanobacteria without high phosphate levels. Treat the cause not the result.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by midgetwaiter

You don’t get Cyanobacteria without high phosphate levels. Treat the cause not the result.

This is how the treatments I used worked

[Red Bullets]

I remember hearing that putting straw bales in the waterbody can stop or slow down the blue green algae. I think it was barley or oat straw.

The bale's decomposition competes with the blue green algae and stops the algae from growing.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

I remember hearing that putting straw bales in the waterbody can stop or slow down the blue green algae. I think it was barley or oat straw.

The bale's decomposition competes with the blue green algae and stops the algae from growing.

Barley straw is what I was told in aquaculture but you need to replace it before it decomposes

I never tried it so can’t say it works or not

[KinAlberta]

More on iron or rust

Scientists discover 'ironclad' green solution to combat toxic blue-green algae

New UAlberta study has successfully tested a new treatment for lakes that experience harmful algal blooms by using iron to inhibit the release of phosphorus in lake sediment
Kristy Condon - 26 February 2016

...
“
"There is a great need for strategies to deal with harmful algal blooms, so we conducted this experiment see if we could use iron to lock up the nutrients that algae need to grow," says Diane Orihel, freshwater ecologist and lead author on the study. The theory was that adding iron to lakes would keep a greater amount of phosphorus down in the sediment and thus not available in the water. Since phosphorus is an important nutrient for the problematic blue-green algae, the result would be an improvement in water quality.

To test this theory, ...”

“ While iron treatments have been conducted before in other countries, this is the first published study of iron treatment in a Canadian lake.

"Most of the lakes in Alberta are deficient in iron just based on the natural geology of the province, and iron is a very important binder of phosphorus in lake sediments," explains Vinebrook. "This treatment is a way of remediating lakes with a compound that's naturally occurring in the system. Whereas a lot of other places advocate adding an exotic kind of chemical to the lake, iron is more of a green solution."...


“ Orihel cautions that this treatment, while successful, should be used in conjunction with ...”

https://www.ualberta.ca/science/news...een-algae.html

[Triggerfish]

Originally Posted by KinAlberta

Found this:



Bolding mine

Have a trailer at pine lake for the last 7 years, whatever they are doing is NOT working

[WinefredCommander]

Quit cutting the lawns at Pine. That place has more manicured lawn then I've ever seen.

[EZM]

The treatment of lakes and large bodies of water isn't a test, it's a known science, very well tested and carried out in many situations on natural bodies of water.

The big issue is cost, who pays for it? how do you monetize the return? That's the issue.

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?scri...22010000100010

[KinAlberta]

Originally Posted by Triggerfish

Have a trailer at pine lake for the last 7 years, whatever they are doing is NOT working

I don’t think they are doing anything. Neither at Pine nor any other lake.

Getting people to stop urbanizing their lake lots would be nice. Nice green heavily fertilized lawns don’t help the situation. Two many people leave the city for the country and before you know it they’ve recreated a city lot on a lake.

[KinAlberta]

Originally Posted by EZM

The treatment of lakes and large bodies of water isn't a test, it's a known science, very well tested and carried out in many situations on natural bodies of water.

The big issue is cost, who pays for it? how do you monetize the return? That's the issue.

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?scri...22010000100010

Interesting article. Depending on what results could be expected, I bet a lot of property owners would sure seriously consider paying a surcharge for a few years in exchange for treatment.

[JB_AOL]

Originally Posted by KinAlberta

I don’t think they are doing anything. Neither at Pine nor any other lake.

Getting people to stop urbanizing their lake lots would be nice. Nice green heavily fertilized lawns don’t help the situation. Two many people leave the city for the country and before you know it they’ve recreated a city lot on a lake.

It's more the farmer fertilizer that causes it, and the lack of water circulation. Looking at pine Lake, it is surrounded by farmers fields that's drain into pine.

Pine Lake spent alot of money putting in a piped recirculation system, but that was years ago and it hasn't been in use the past 10ish years (I'm not sure it was ever in use to be honest).

Unfortunately the best way to "clean" these lakes is to drain them and essentially kill them. Then rebuild. But that will never happen .

[KinAlberta]

Agree with the runoff issue.

A guy near us used to bulldoze all his horses manure onto the frozen creek in the winter so it would wash away in the spring.

[KinAlberta]

Management council seeking input on plan for Wabamun watershed
The document aiming for ecological health on the Wabamun Watershed Management Council's website calls for goals like wise land use.

Evan J. Pretzer, September 4, 2020

“ Last month the water body was issued a blue-green algae advisory by Alberta Health Services. This organism type also has seaweed like kelp in its family, but the blue-green variety can be toxic enough to kill livestock, is strong enough that its germs are not killed by boiling water, has occurred on the lake before and now the Wabamun Watershed Management Council is asking the public about its new plan on the issue.”

...

The document aiming for ecological health on the council’s website calls for a number of broad goals like wise land use and good water quality. Specific actions urged to get to those ideals include reclaiming lands and not using fertilizers or cosmetic pesticides near the lake. Fleming added that they presently do not have teeth to enforce much of what they call for, but noted that the municipalities around the lake have been receptive to their concerns – Seba Beach banned fertilizers in 2018 on such a basis – and the road ahead is rife with potential.
...”

...There is appetite out there and our number of followers on our Facebook page has skyrocketed. Hopefully we can prevent this from reoccurring.”

https://www.theobserver.ca/news/loca...a-27ee4c6f9e55

Powerful toxin. Over 300 dead elephants

Toxic blue-green algae is killing African elephants by the hundreds, officials say - oregonlive.com


https://www.syracuse.com/us-news/202...cials-say.html

Water company says toxic algae treatments at Utah Lake were successful | Lindon News | heraldextra.com
By Connor Richards Daily Herald Aug 28, 2020

https://www.heraldextra.com/news/loc...e16f87fe0.html



Can Utah Lake be free of toxic algae in 2021? A Utah company says yes
By Daedan Olander 8/31/2020

https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/8/...nical-services


Milford Reservoir to begin Blue-Green Algae treatment
By Sarah Motter, Jul. 24, 2020

https://www.wibw.com/2020/07/24/milf...gae-treatment/

[Big Grey Wolf]

Ferric chloride is a relatively safe chemical, lots of iron in ground. Sherritt in Ft Sask has a large tailings pond of iron, but am sure Alberta Environment would never allow dumping some to clean up a lake.

[Penner]

Thought I heard at one time that Limestone limits algae growth.

Biggest issue in this provinces algae issues are man-made run-off from either livestock or from lawns/gardens. That in combination with shallow lakes with little to no major inlets/outlets and presto green soup.

[Sundancefisher]

Install aeration.

Reduce fertilizers around the lake. Fence off from cattle. If you can raise the water level that would help.

Poisoning lakes to kill algae or blue green algae just creates a feedback loop of growth, due off, rot, nutrients for the next bloom.

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Install aeration.

Reduce fertilizers around the lake. Fence off from cattle. If you can raise the water level that would help.

Poisoning lakes to kill algae or blue green algae just creates a feedback loop of growth, due off, rot, nutrients for the next bloom.

yup...got the same problem here at moose lake....residence complain about it but yet clear right down to the water and fertilize the crap out of everything...people are the problem...again.

[1899b]

Originally Posted by 58thecat

yup...got the same problem here at moose lake....residence complain about it but yet clear right down to the water and fertilize the crap out of everything...people are the problem...again.

we had a summer home on moose at Northshore Heights for 20 years. We also spent lots of time at the lakes in the Meadow Lake area. Sask lakes never seemed to get that blue green junk that Moose and Muriel did. I can remember a good solid couple days of rain would clear the lake up....

[saskbooknut]

Lime has also been used to sequester nutrients in sediments, to prevent algal blooms. Large water bodies could be too expensive to treat because of the quantity required, and the labour of handling.
The Eastern irrigation district tried it in their canals, as I recall, to inhibit rapid plant growth that impeded flow.

[EZM]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Install aeration.

Reduce fertilizers around the lake. Fence off from cattle. If you can raise the water level that would help.

Poisoning lakes to kill algae or blue green algae just creates a feedback loop of growth, due off, rot, nutrients for the next bloom.

Fencing off cattle helps, but, in most cases the largest nutrient loading comes from agricultural fertilizers. It rains and it washed through the watershed and deposits into a stream, or along the surface through sloughs, then along it goes and into the lakes.

Wetlands along the lake shore help eat up some of this, but wetlands don't make for great shore line housing, so we destroy lake side and watershed wetlands.

Even so, the wetlands can only mitigate some of the nutrients. We likely load so much nutrients in most watersheds, there is no other option.

Addressing the root cause is the best treatment - but the least practical.

Farmers are not going to stop using fertilizer.

Treating a large lake is possible, but expensive.

Problem is ....... who pays for it?

[Drewski Canuck]

Limestone does stop the Blue Green Algae by knocking the PH out and grabbing the suspended phosphates in the water.

It only works if there is a mechanical pulverizing of the rock ongoing to keep the limestone released into the water, as opposed to simply putting limestone into the running water.

Funny part is that in Pennsylvania where there was acid rain killing the streams in the 1980's, some smart guy essentially filled a drilled 55 gallon barrel with small limestone rock, and welded fins on the barrel before suspending the barrel horizontally on an axle so that the water current could turn the barrel.


The limestone would roll around like in a rock crusher, and the water would run through the holes in the barrel into the stream. PH was then corrected, and the streams came back to life.

SOOOO if you have a stream flowing into a Lake, take Baptiste for instance, and during runoff there was lots of inflow to rotate the barrel and carry the crushed limestone into the waterbody .....

No.

Lets not try what has already been proven to work elsewhere. Solution is too easy.

Drewski