Trying to snag algae on Waverly Lake with a rake and a net on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022.
A visitor to Waverly Park alerted me Monday that people were raking off the unsightly algae, the subject of a couple of stories on this site. I got on the bike to take a look.
At the dock where the city’s paddleboats are berthed, I met Scott Jackson of the Albany Parks and Recreation Department:
This attack on the algae was a valiant effort, though the adjective I wanted escaped me when I talked with Jackson and instead I went with intrepid, not quite the same thing.
While one crew was trying to rake up weeds from a boat being slowly towed behind a paddleboat, others tried cutting algae with a device thrown into the water from the bank and then pulled back to shore.
After three hours of work, the yield was small. The pond is too big and the algae too thick.
If Albany wants this pond at a main entrance to town to look better than an incipient swamp in late summer, a more industrial approach will have to be tried. (hh)
Algae pulled from Waverly Lake after three hours didn’t fill a small trailer.
I can remember years ago in a So. Cal. public lake (El Dorado park in Long Beach) they brought in a couple of larger boats that had some type of paddle looking device in the front. I seem to remember that they mostly cut back overgrown vegetation from the edges of the lake. They had a type of conveyor that would move the cuttings to a small barge towed behind the boats. That type of device might be handy for scooping, cutting and removing the algae.
Just a thought.
Before going “more industrial”, we need to control upstream agricultural, septic tank, and lawn runoff to reduce nutrients. Then possibly add aeration to cool the water temperature.
I don’t think Waverly Lake is a pond. It has an inlet of water from Swan Lakes and an outlet of water near Salem Ave that lets the water travel on to the Willamette River.
Might take a ride out and look at the weed growth in freeway lakes. Rumor has it the county isn’t going to do anything about it. My sources say it can spread even to the Calapoia River.
Start a MLM that promotes the algae as a health food, problem solved.
Algae contain chlorophyll but lack true stems, roots, leaves, and vascular tissue.
Looks like a lot of stems!
Aerating the lake! I like this – I’m seeing an art installation – perhaps lily pads. YES!
Art + a needed aerator.
Modify “the Duck” to include a fountain