Green waves at Alki
Close-up of green water at Alki
It wasn’t like this twenty years ago. I used to bring my kids down here and they’d go out in the water. Now it’s just gross as are many other bodies of water in the Puget Sound region. I used to go swim in Green Lake almost every weekend but back then the waters were only slightly green now Green Lake looks like a toilet that needs badly to be flushed.
Nutrients that promote the growth of algae and other aquatic plants choke the water near the surface and block light from reaching the depths starving the deeper waters for oxygen and killing off life there.
These nutrients come from inadequately treated sewage and animal wastes as well as lawn fertilizer. What is more important? Bodies of water we can swim in and life can flourish in, or a nice pretty green lawn? Personally, I’d opt for clearer waters at the sound.
rlqkpkztNanook, would you know if the algae on the lake you mentioned was identified as gleotrichia (or gloeotrichia)? Our lake in central ME has “rivers” of that algae in August. We’re trying to find out what the prognosis for the lake is in the near future. Thx,
Dave
There’s a great video on San Francisco I Am where hundreds of teens in the Bay Area ditched their video games at home and headed for the biggest green festival in the nation. The Festival was held in San Francisco and the kids learned AND taught one another about climate change and green jobs. Even Chuck D from Public Enemy was there.
You can check out the video here:
http://www.sanfranciscoiam.com/videos/c898d779b574
With regards to the algae species, I have not seen any information with respect to what species it is.
What I do know is that I’ve lived here all my life, I’m 50 now, the water didn’t used to be green. But it wasn’t an overnight thing. It’s gotten gradually worse year after year.
More and more people have moved into the region, dumping more and more sewage into the sound, and many people feel the need to have a perfect green lawn so they apply half a tonne of fertilizer, then water the lawn until all the fertilizer they’ve applied washes into the drainage system and out into the sound.
The good news is that they’ve finally banned a lot of the fertilizers in areas where it’s the worst because it’s gotten so bad fish are dying in the streams for lack of oxygen.
Regarding the Green Festival, anything that raises public awareness I think is good, but one concern I have with the whole global warming thing is that it’s grossly oversimplified and the people pushing it are going to lose credibility if they aren’t more honest and detailed.
Last winter was the coldest winter on record in North America, this one may out do that.
The interplay between the climate and mans activities is much more complex than “more co2 means hotter weather”.