 Dr. Harry Lyons explains the ecology of Clear Lake at a town hall on Monday, July 6, 2009. Photo by Elizabeth Larson.
CLEARLAKE – Following on the heels of one of the year's busiest boating and vacation weekends on Clear Lake, a group of concerned citizens gathered Monday evening to hear presentations from local officials and lake experts on the blue-green algae bloom that's raised concerns over the summer.
Clearlake City Council member Joyce Overton and Dian Gibson, owner of the Sunset Resort, called the two and a half hour meeting at Clearlake City Hall.
Overton also announced during the evening that she's secured the support of local, state and federal officials for seeking federal money to work on improving the lake's health.
Invited speakers on Monday included Dr. Harry Lyons, an expert on the lake who is professor of biology and ecology at Yuba College's Clear Lake campus; Sarah Ryan, environmental director at Big Valley Rancheria; Skip Simkins of Lake County Lakebed Management; and Tom Smythe of the the Lake County Water Resources Division.
Over the last several weeks, a bloom of the blue-green algae lyngbya has appeared around the lake, leaving thick mats coating the lake's surface and the lakeshore.
It spurred county health officials to issue warnings about swimming in the lake or ingesting water in areas where the algae mats were found, as lyngbya can cause dermatitis.
The algae's odor had caused officials to conduct bacteriological tests, which led them to conclude that it wasn't the result of sewage discharge.
Several people noted during the meeting that they haven't seen an algae bloom like this in years – some of them have never seen such an occurrence.
The meeting's emphasis, said Overton, was education in preparation for action.
“We all know the algae has been a problem for many years,” she said, noting it's a natural occurrence. “That does not mean that we cannot fix the problem.”
Gibson and Overton called a meeting at Gibson's resort on June 30. When 50 people showed up, Gibson said they saw that people were concerned and wanted to help.
Lyons, who has spent decades studying the biology of Clear Lake, tried to explain the problem in the context of the lake's very long and complex history.
“Clear Lake is famous around the world, and it's famous for the one thing that troubles you – it is famous for blue-green algae,” he said. But it isn't famous for the kind of “catastrophe” of algae pileups that local residents have seen mounting in recent weeks.
Clear Lake has a lot of nutrients in it, much of it coming from the hills around the lake in the form of erosion. Lyons said the lake is aligned in such a way that the wind can blow almost to the lake's bottom, which stirs and recirculates nutrients. That gives rise sequences of blue-green algae growth.
The surface water, where the algae grows, is warm, while the cooler lake bottom is where matter decays and uses oxygen, which releases more nutrients from the bottom. The wind then recirculates the materials and the cycle begins again, said Lyons.
Clear Lake is eutrophic, which Lyons said translates into a “shallow green lake.”
“I love it for that,” he said. “I do not love it when it is overly abundant.”
Lyons noted that the lake's abundance is a key to its attraction.
And, he warned, “You cannot manage it to be Lake Tahoe. You have an emerald, not a sapphire.”
That emerald, he said, can only be managed in long-term ways – including making the shoreline more natural, retaining tules and willows, and stopping sediment influx from the hills.
“The lake is healthy but it has pulses of overgrowth like the ones you have witnessed and are suffering with,” he said.
While he's been upset because of what business owner and residents have faced with the severe algae bloom, he said he also was “delighted” but the reaction of people. Algae blooms used to be more common and they elicited less response and concern.
Work to improve the lake's health likely won't work in his lifetime, said Lyons, but it will mean there will be less severe issues in the near future.
This spring saw a shallower lake with cooler temperatures. Lyons said when his students looked at the mix of plankton in the lake in April and May, they saw an “interesting occurrence” of lyngbya. That strain of algae has a mucous sheath around it that makes it perfectly ready to form mats.
Lyngbya also has toxins, but Lyons said he was reluctant to discuss them because all plant species have toxins. He said he didn't know about the toxins in lyngbya.
However, Lyons could explain the algae's smell, which is a result of the decaying process. It emits a smell he compared to a giant diaper – or a big dead whale he dissected in 1972. Pouring water on decaying material helps deal with the smell, as does mixing it to get more oxygen through it.
Addressing concerns about sewage in the lake, Lyons said he looked at data provided by county officials, and found coliform bacteria that wasn't unusual when considering the presence of lyngbya. E. coli levels also weren't abnormally high.
“If we're part of the problem we can be part of the resolution,” he said.
During a question period, Clearlake Councilman Roy Simons said he's been coming to the lake since the 1940s. “I've never seen it this bad, ever.”
He suggested that raw sewage is being dumped into the lake, which is giving rise to the problem. Lyons challenged that assertion, saying the E. coli levels didn't bear that out. When Simons persisted, Lyons replied, “Give me data.”
Community members questioned Lyons about lyngbya's toxicity and why public warnings were suggested. He said that the concern is about decaying organic matter as it comes into contact with human skin. He said, for example, he might turn his compost heap, but he wouldn't necessarily dive into it.
He said, however, that he believes the water is safe to swim in, which he did this weekend. He said he hasn't bathed since then in order to check his reaction to the water, and so far he's OK. “You see before you one very dirty but very convinced Irishman.”
Ryan said there have been significant sewage spills into the lake in the past. She read examples of past spills from the state water board's Web site.
Even though the E. coli count now is low, she said it still violates Clear Lake's basin plan objectives.
She said she's talked to tribal elders and others familiar with the lake, and none of them could recall any algae bloom like the recent one. Environmental scientists have told Ryan that something has fed the bloom.
As the tribe has monitored the Clear Lake hitch, they've looked at water quality in the some of the lake's tributaries. “What we've seen is there is a lot of creeks that are in bad shape,” she said, with low oxygen levels, turbid conditions and high temperatures.
A long history of algae
Smythe said Clear Lake has been in existence between 500,000 and two million years.
The US Geological Survey has conducted core samples on the lake, discovering a lot of algae since the last ice age, when the area had cypress – not oaks – because it was too cold.
He read from the letter Livingston Stone – sent by the Smithsonian to study Clear Lake in 1872 and 1873 – wrote to Congress, describing the lake's unique ecology.
Clear Lake wasn't clear, Stone said, but a yellow brown, and its water had an earthy taste like swamp water. The lake's bottom, Stone noted, had a thick covering of dense moss that could build up to obstruct passage of boats.
“Does that sound familiar?” Smythe asked.
From 1971 to 1975, Dr. Alex Horne, a renowned scientist, lived in Lake County and worked on the algal research unit sponsored by the University of California, Berkeley and the state Department of Water Resources. That group founded the lake had excess phosphorous, said Smythe.
In 1991, in the lake's Horseshoe Bend area there was a 15-acre algae slick “that puts this one to shame,” said Smythe, noting that in some places the algae was as thick as four feet, far eclipsing the two-inch algae mats currently found.
After that, the blue green algae gleotrichia began showing up, and the lake has undergone a clarity change, although Smythe said no one knows why. “Something is going on out there that we really don't understand.”
Lyngbya started showing up more in recent years. However, Smythe referred back to Stone's letter, describing the thick moss on the lake's bottom that rises and obstructs boats. It sounded much like a University of Florida description of the blue-green algae strain produced in 2003.
That led Smythe to surmise that the algae has been around a long time.
One project that is hoped to help the lake's clarity is the Middle Creek Restoration Project, which Smythe said the county has been working on for 14 years. That area, on the Northshore, was levied off around 1903, removing 1,200 acres of wetland.
What makes the project important, Smythe explained, is that more than half of the water that flows into the lake comes through the Rodman Slough, which is located in the project area. He said 70 percent of the phosphorous that comes into the lake comes with the sediment.
Smythe said the county is working on purchasing property so they can remove the levees and restore the lake area. The project, he said, should reduce the amount of nutrients in the lake by 20 percent. However, it's been on hold since December due to lack of funds.
Simkins explained that aerating the top of the water can help break up the algae mats. He's built a sprayer unit that costs about $1,000 that works well. He passed out copies of a video, which Overton said she'll ask to be broadcast on TV 8, about dealing with the algae blooms.
Luiz said the chamber will support any solutions that come out of the community meetings Overton and Gibson plan to hold.
“We wouldn't have tourism if we didn't have the lake,” he said.
Perception is critical, he said. “I have seen more damage done by people being ignorant and saying things that aren't true about Clear Lake to people passing through.”
That becomes more of a problem with local businesses already struggling through “dire times,” he said.
Luiz said the chamber board's consensus is to give people knowledge about the situation, although he was willing to help pressure the city and county.
Supervisor Jeff Smith thanked Overton and Gibson for putting the forum together. He encouraged people to get involved in volunteer efforts to improve the lake's health.
A community task force also is being formed to address the lake's issues, Overton and Gibson said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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The chamber of commerce hadn't even asked the city or county for help, and the county and city hadn't offered any-beyond promising to look for funding. It was agreed that this was a major problem for the resorts and the TOT revenues were taking a BIG hit, but they apparently didn't care enough to spend any of their money solving the problem. Paying to run a couple of boats back-and-forth with a couple of 5 hp pumps going was too much to spend to save the local economy-so I guess we know what that's worth. Can you say "penny-wise, dollar foolish"?