Good news for Menomin

Heard a report the new city mayor was going to make the lake clean up one of his priorities:
Reported in Sunday’s Dunn County News that the DNR got back to the mayor that an algae eating machine would not need a permit due to not disturbing the lake bottom. Also reported was, two special pumps would be installed in Wolske Bay to promote the movement of water.

Keep the ole fingers crossed.

This might be a stupid question but…what is this machine? Is there a real name for it? I’m interested

They did not report the name of the machine.

dont you guys think it would be a good idea that they start on upper tainter……from what i see every year thats where the problem starts……..i guess thats my two cents

That is good news. Maybe that along the DNR’s 35 year plan to improve our water quality will help bring the lake back around so we can enjoy it all summer. I’m sure the homeowners who live on the lake wouldn’t mind either.

I was on Tainter on Sunday and it is getting bad already. The smell was starting and the green was creeping in. NOT Good!

I agree, Tainter is where the problems start for the majority–then comes over the Cedar Falls dam green and Menomin worsens substantually.
The lake associations need to step up, well as all the homeowners around Tainter (water and sewer issues, etc.). I understand the whole watershed is at issue, but clean up the inside of your own cup first-
On a side note, the entire watershed is naturally rich in phosphorus–creating a phosphorus free zone in the watershed would be a global start. Otherwise, the DNR-lake associations could establish filtration stations on the Red Cedar and Hay rivers at the top of tainter and let the people further north clean up their own closets since everyone is turning a blind eye to this menacing and ever increasing problem.

I would never buy a house on Tainter or Menomin unless I suddenly lost my sense of smell.

Ahh boys don’t forget that the majority of that water comes through farm country from the north. The mayor can do all the work he wants to help, but it really seems that his work really lies much further to the north. Oh by the way, I am for what he is trying to do!!!

Mark

I hear you Mark,
least something has finally gone beyond lip service!!!

im just glad to see that some one is try to clean it up …………lets just hope that it works better then the barly did

Agreed that anything will help but it all starts with the farming practices to the north that’s were the cooperation between the DNR and the farmers will clean up these waters that are precious. I cant tell how sick I get from this stuff. Once the algae kicks in I am pretty much regulated to land until fall

I would like to see the results of a study to measure the phosphorous level on the Red Cedar as it enters Tainter. I would not be surprised if it is off the charts. Once the water gets into the lake it just sits and ferments into the green we see.

I don’t know what can be done to get farmers to stop pasturing their livestock in and around tributaries to the Red Cedar but creating a 50 foot fenced buffer zone around all tributaries as well as putting restrictions on fertilizer and manure spreading in areas prone to runoff would seem logical. Farmers have a right to make a living but when their practices pollute the watershed I draw the line. This is a political hot potato that state politicians don’t want to touch because of the outcry from agriculture. Lake shore owners are hopefully using Phosphorous free fertilizer and maintaining their septic systems but we know not everyone is on board.

so they got the pumps in lets just hope this works

No pumps as of this AM—-but plenty of stinky green.

I’ll agree 100%. We were riding bikes on the trail between the K-Mart and the dam and in front of those new Condos was terrible. I think that dead water in the cove there was the source. Man I needed a gas mask. The only savior on the way back towards K-Mart it was raining and I think that helped keep the smell at the lake or something. We need a graemlin holding its nose. Pewwwww