Sunday, March 17, 2013

Troubled Waters?

Today's KC Star
B16

You might not have seen the article, buried at the end of the Sports section:

"Siltation, drought, toxic algae, runoff cloud future of fishing waters in the region"

"A lot of these reservoirs are 40 to 50 years old now, and they're aging. They have problems that we have to address before it's too late."  Doug Nygren, KS Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism."

"Nasty outbreaks of toxic blue-green algae which thrive in warm, still water"

"In Missouri...mercury contamination...PCB, chlordane"

I know the focus right now @ WL are the Zebra Mussels, but one thing (I believe) they do not do is contaminate the water.  We could win the battle and lose the war if we are not careful.
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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

According to the movie on the WLIC website (30 minute mark) zebra mussels are directly related to toxic algae blooms because they kill "good" biomass that staves off the toxic stuff. Zebras could increase the potential for more toxic algae blooms in our lake.

Anonymous said...

I would think lakes like Weatherby Lake are in trouble long term because the primary source of water is runoff, which means continued siltation, contamination and eventually dead water, with or without zebra mussels.

Anonymous said...

I appreciate the efforts of the WLIC on this subject and will certainly do whatever WLIC asks to avoid them. It's taken less than 25 years for them to make it to the Kansas City area from Canada. Possibly our lake may be able to avoid them but I doubt it. Seems to me, when these mussels are infested heavy enough they'll make it to WL via incoming waters. Someone made a comment about regatta vistors. What is being done about that?

Anonymous said...

Any vessel (sailboat, fishing boat, runabout, etc) that comes to the lake from anywhere else has to be cleaned and quarantined as per the proposed new WLIC regulations, so regattas or fishing competitions etc. should not cause a problem if monitored correctly. More information about algae and spread of zebra mussels is available by attending one of the upcoming Town Hall forums.

Anonymous said...

Didn't everyone read the proposed rules and regulation changes that were mailed out to every member?

There will be NO boats coming in from anywhere else (i.e. regattas). And, our own boats will not be allowed to be placed in any other body of water either.

That's the safest approach in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

I don't think that is right. They are going to allow regattas and fishing tournaments as long as they apply to the WLIC for permission.