Waverly Lake as seen from Salem Avenue on Saturday afternoon: Algae appear to be gone.
Back in Albany Friday after being away for a week, I read on Facebook that the algae harvesters were back on Waverly Lake. I passed the lake on a bike ride Saturday and, sure enough, almost all of the algae on the lake’s surface were gone.
There was no one around to ask, so I don’t know if this year’s round of algae removal was complete, or whether the machines had yet to finish up.
Looking across the 9-acre lake from where I parked the bike on Salem Avenue, I could not see any algae or other growth remaining on the lake’s surface.
Only later, rounding the lake on the western path to Pacific Boulevard, did I notice that a layer of scum remained in the bay at the very west end. That might be an area that’s too shallow for the machines to operate.
Aquatic Harvesting, the firm from Washington state hired by Albany Parks to clear the lake, deployed the two harvesting machines last summer. The algae came back this summer, and the parks department said the company would be back to repeat last year’s operation.
The city’s paddle boat rentals on Waverly Lake operated this summer despite the algae problem. Their last day for the season will be Sunday, Sept. 1.
The question now is whether algae harvesting will become necessary every year. After the holiday, I’ll ask the parks department what they expect.
And in any case, we’ll know a year from now by looking at the lake. (hh)
Thanks, Hasso – Would be interested in knowing if the Parks Dept. is looking at possibly rehiring the algae harvester on an annual subscription basis. If that’s the case, there’s likely a ‘root cause’ underneath the repetitive symptom that Albany keeps wondering about. Appears the city’s public works dept. can’t seem to keep Albany’s water supply sewage-free. Reckon Albany residents need to be taxed more to fix the cause for good, right? And so it goes, year after year, as the tax-and-waste trend continues to be predictable and tiresome.
“Can’t keep … water supply sewage free…”? That’s nonsense.