Clear Lake county”s government is in denial and this is not Lake County bashing.
How many disgusting, noxious, smelly, tourist-investment repellent via blooming cyanobacteria years, does it take to make Clear Lake into a swamp-dump wasteland?
Is it too late to turn Lake County government from its dark, long-term denial of lake and watershed neglect before the lake becomes hyper eutrophic? How many thousands of public outcries by irate Lake County citizens does it take to penetrate a delusional government paradigm, supported in part by Lake County”s Chamber of Commerce, as a denial that”s costing millions per year in lost economic revenue while extolling the virtues of abundant, warm sunny days and the beauty of this lake”s ancient treasures?
How many scientific studies conducted through many years upon Clear Lake waters does it take before Lake County government acts responsibility regarding the problem of Cyanobacteria?
Carolyn Ruttan, invasive species program coordinator for the Lake County Water Resources Department, recently (Aug., 19) suggested in the Press Democrat, in an article by Glenda Anderson, that she (Ruttan), “… is trying to drum up interest in scientific studies on Clear Lake”s plants and organisms and whether any of it is useful.” Ruttan said: “A cyanobacteria related to Clear Lake?s stinky variety is believed to be a cancer inhibitor. It”s harvested and sold as a health supplement.”
Well, here we go again with that old avoidance “studies” routine, even suggesting some cyanobacteria might be a cancer inhibitor, while many scientific studies, today strongly indicate that some cyanobacteria found in Clear Lake produce toxins that are cancer and tumor promoting ? is anybody interested?
While Ruttan stated she receives “10 calls a day” concerning the noxious algae from outraged citizens; the calls have been ringing off the hook for at least 40 years.
At times algae scums have covered the lake by tens of acres 1-meter-thick ? so thick that small boats could even navigate through and where the odor drove seasoned permanent residents from their homes for the duration; and tourists leave, refusing to pay or demanding their money back. How many smelly years does it take to have a responsible government that can act effectively upon this problem?
Let”s, by all means, have continuing studies for all those students and their professors and for all those in government and academia who live off the grants that may discover something, perhaps proving the connection between Cyanobacteria toxins and cancer or ALS, et al. Now, can we please act at a professional level of government, at least upon the immediate and admittedly short-term but important problem of getting rid of the seasonal stench and tourist-investment-repellent, unsightly and now proven unhealthy cyanobacteria after 40 years of costly studies and lake neglect and the egregious neglect of Lake County citizens?
After 40 years we don”t need the kind of Lake County government mentality that spends $100,000 to buy some air-boat to break up the blooming algae scum material, which only makes the lake more turbid than it is, distributing the algae, releasing even more toxic material into the water in this unsuccessful waste of money. Obviously, the problem requires a much more comprehensive approach.
Perhaps establishing a seasonal task force that suction-skims the algae from the lake”s surface around contaminated and tourist relevant areas and removing it from the lake, would be possible and should have been established years ago if so? Should a Clear Lake citizenry continue to accept the questionable quality of their government that manages to successfully ignore such known, long-standing economic and material damage? According to the July, 1994 Lake County/UCD Clean Lakes Project-final Report, the problem of algae cost the county, “?tens of millions of dollars of revenue?” per year due to “?poor water quality conditions of which the presence of algae was the most important cause.” Almost 20 years since this report (there have been many scientific reports before and after), the citizens get a costly $100,000 air-boat solution as a specious gesture or perhaps a gift of good intention, that does essentially nothing. Is there something wrong with this picture? Wake up citizens.
Now, lest someone from the Lake County Chamber of Commerce and the media or elsewhere think this is about Lake County government bashing, they might consider there is some reality to a denial via political policy and media hype that attempts to portray Clear Lake as all beautiful and sunny for commercial reason but which has substantially contributed to the proven economic and material loss of this County by a denial that has delayed a focused means for not effectively dealing with the algae problem. Rationalization, deflection, avoidance and denial don”t get the job done. Perhaps a more mature government approach might now consider the realistic and immediate removal of the surface algae (along with, of course, more long-term studies and measures).
Maurice Taylor
Clearlake
