LAKEPORT — The Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS) Tuesday gave consensus to developing a mechanized algae harvester, which was in jest described as the “Clear Lake Sea Monster.”
District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington said he was approached and given an unsolicited proposal to design and build an algae harvester to collect and dewater algae matting on Clear Lake.
The team that submitted the proposal was described as an “informal group of friends” who design tech-savvy projects, according to its de-facto “figurehead” Todd Falconer. Falconer said the team had more than 25 years of experience in harvesting crops, engineering and computer programming, among many other things.
Falconer said Clear Lake is the core asset of the county and the algae mats threaten the local economy. The proposed algae harvester would function as a floating island that would collect and dewater algae in order to remove them and possibly transport them to a landfill, he said.
Farrington said many options had been tried recently by the Water Resources Department, with some successes and some failures. He said the county needs to have a tool for next summer that it can count on for removing nuisance algae blooms, adding that the process before the BOS Tuesday was to allow the team to develop a proposal as soon as possible.
District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown said he had some concerns about spending taxpayer money to experiment with a harvester, adding that it wasn”t being put out to bid. He said technology to develop a harvester exists and that a local group could find money to develop one.
Farrington said the county”s efforts to mitigate nuisance algae have been experimental and are ongoing. The harvester would be a way of getting past the experimental point, he said, adding that the harvester could be tailored to the county”s needs. He said the county has to be its own innovators and support the local efforts.
District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing said she appreciated the group bringing forth the proposal and added that public-private partnerships can work. She said the BOS should go through the proper bid process before using taxpayer money on the project.
Water Resources Director Scott De Leon said he wanted to move into a mobile approach in dealing with algae blooms. He said the direction he wanted for the department was to move forward with removing algae mechanically and dewatering the materials.
District 2 Supervisor Jeff Smith said the county needs to have a tool to remove algae and prevent it from reaching the lake bottom and fueling next year”s blooms. He said he was willing to hear the group”s offer.
Falconer said if the group was to have a harvester ready by next summer, they would need to start working on the plans immediately. Consensus was given by the BOS for the group to move forward with a proposal, which would be brought back for future consideration.
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14.
