AUSTIN (KXAN) — The City of Austin will begin treating Lady Bird Lake for the fourth year in a row to reduce the presence of toxic algae, and this year it is adding a new area of the lake to treat.
Crews will be spraying a grey slurry into the water around Red Bud Isle and the area around the Festival Beach boat ramp. The slurry is a lanthanum-modified clay and its main purpose is to take away one of the main food sources of the toxic algae.
The clay binds with phosphorous in the water and takes away the resource from the algae.
This is the fourth year of the city’s five-year pilot program to reduce the harmful algae. The algae made a resurgence in early spring this year but currently is not as present as we have seen in years past. Experts say the rainfall in the past two months reduced the presence of the algae in May.
Tracking the treatments success
The city says treatments in June have greatly reduced the presence of toxic algae at Red Bud Isle, but the same cannot be said about the area east of I-35 near Festival Beach. Experts believe it may be because new sediments upstream are getting into the water and covering up the clay and bringing in more nutrients.
“We are seeing the lanthanum is present along the north shore. We know it’s there, so there is an effect happening, it’s just not to the same magnitude that we’re seeing up river,” Brent Bellinger, with the Watershed Protection department, said.
What’s new this year?
This year the city is adding a new location the lake to treat the water. It is on the north shore just west of the boat ramp under I-35. The purpose of this location is purely for research purposes. The city wants to study the area to see if there are any unforeseen impacts on aquatic insects.
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