Algae blooms can ruin more than your summer
Lake Hopatcong is really almost a stone's throw from my home in Sussex County where my home is maybe 300 feet from another lake, which was dredged by DEP, and it was needed as the lake was not as clean, as in my youth.
Sadly, Lake Hopatcong, and the Gulf of Mexico where I came to teach a course; both have had serious algae blooms! We got sick in the Gulf this year, and thousands last year!
When algae proliferates, it gobbles up oxygen, leaving little oxygen for marine life, as we have seen thousands of dead fish on beaches in the Gulf, and the same maybe seen for our great New Jersey lake.
The blooms are dangerous everywhere. Though some deny climate change, it is the changes in temperature that brings these blooms, which cause serious issues for humans, pets and wildlife. The processes brings heat-trapping gases.
On a world scale, these gases and molecules create much more serious problems! In lakes, fertilizers and sewage exacerbate problems with algae and change the lakes to a green color.
It is important to follow reports on algae blooms in rivers, lakes — big and small — and oceans. It can be a matter of life or death.
Bill Weightman
Hardyston