Residents and visitors are wondering how bad the algae will be on Clear Lake this summer. There are areas that show significant algae blooms and other areas where the algae is tolerable.
In comparison to other years, the locations of the algae blooms have changed. Last year, the south end of the lake had massive algae blooms and the north end was relatively clear.
This summer the locations have been reversed. Whereas the south end has had algae blooms, it is the north end that has been much worse.
Library Park in Lakeport is a good example where the daily algae blooms have been extensive. Soda Bay has also seen massive algae blooms but what is different is that the bay is clear in the morning but choked with algae mats by late afternoon.
Another good example is Holiday Harbor in Nice. This is where the county installed six pumps to aerate the water. On Monday morning, the bay was clear of algae and juvenile bass could be seen by the hundreds swimming in the bay; however, by midafternoon the bay was full of algae.
According to Carolyn Ruttan of the Lake County Water Resources Department, the algae is sinking to the bottom in the evenings as the water cools, and then when the water temperatures rise in the afternoons, the algae blooms. She said that when the water temperatures reach 80 degrees four inches below the surface, the algae blooms.
It is known that water movement will cause the algae to disperse. Algae are tiny water plants that cycle normally between the bottom and the surface, floating up and sinking down. During the day, algae generate oxygen within the lake and at night they consume oxygen.
Without question, algae is the most important plant on earth. It generates 70 percent of the oxygen in the atmosphere and without it, there would be no life on the planet.
Clear Lake has more than 130 different species of algae and each one behaves differently. For example, one species of algae that”s presently causing so much concern is lyngbya — that is the algae that resembles angels hair.
Five years ago, it was rare to see lyngbya but it is common now. In past years, the south end of the lake had the worst algae mats because the prevailing northwest winds pushed the algae from the north to the south.
This year the winds have been mainly from the south and algae is being pushed north. One reason that Soda Bay has large algae mats is because the bay has very little water movement.
Algae is the oldest living organism on earth, going back several billion years. It is also the least studied. At Clear Lake, the algae blooms have occurred ever since the lake was formed more than two million years ago.
Algae normally starts to form on the lake in April and can continue to bloom until well into October. Most algae is reproduced by photosynthesis, which is when sunlight is absorbed by a plant and converted into a chemical food for the plant. In other words, algae absorbs the sunlight, and blooms and reproduces.
While algae is a required plant to sustain life, not everyone likes it.
At Clear Lake, the thick algae has impacted the tourism industry. Every year during the heavy algae blooms, some tourists cancel their vacations to Lake County because they don”t want to boat or swim in the algae.
There are a number of methods for controlling the algae in the lake. The primary one is to aerate the water, which breaks up the algae mats. The county has supplied a number of resorts with pumps and hoses to break up the algae mats. For example, the Indian Beach Resort in Glenhaven uses a county-supplied pump to spray the water around its docks, and the method has proven to be effective.
The Edgewater Resort in Soda Bay also has pumps supplied by the county to keep its beach clean. Ruttan said the county also has airboats and other watercraft that it will loan to resorts and other businesses to break up the algae.
Algae doesn”t harm the lake”s fisheries and in fact supplies needed food for juvenile bass, catfish crappie and other species in the lake. The algae will start to disappear by late September, and by the October it will be gone.
