Allow Rat to begin by posing a basic home repair question. Imagine for a minute that you live in a house
with a leaky roof. To be clear, we’re
not talking about a rundown old rat hole (which has an undeniable charm of its
own), but a genuinely nice place. Every
time it rains, water drips onto the wood floor. After a few leaky years, the wood floor is in
bad shape, completely water-stained, warped, and rotten. Repairs are badly needed. Do you pony up the dough for a nice new wood floor,
knowing full well that the roof leaks?
The Village of Lake Delton, known far and wide for its most
river-rat-unfriendly of water skiing shows, is deeply invested in the appearance
of its namesake lake, which drives its tourism-based economy. Recently, the lake has been fouled with green
water and algae blooms, caused by upstream polluted runoff that brings excess
nutrients into the lake.
The Village was apparently looking for a short-term fix to the
dirty water that would allow water ski shows and other water-based recreation to
continue unimpeded by unsightly and stinky algae. So, they poured $30,000 worth (or some 500 GALLONS) of “AquaBlue” dye into the
waters of Lake Delton.
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| Visibility in Delton's dyed waters is no more than a few feet. |
AquaBlue, in case you are wondering, is a “non-toxic” dye
for use in ponds—think of artificial blue ponds on golf courses. Its contents are a trade secret—“concentrated
acid blue dye #9” is all they tell us. The
dye, working its dark magic in Lake Delton at this very moment, prevents
sunlight from penetrating more than a couple feet in the water. According to its label, it provides a “beautiful
blue tint” to the water. Eyewitnesses confirm
that it Lake Delton is indeed dark blue presently, with visibility at no more
than a foot or two.
Rat’s pretty skeptical about this whole operation, which
stinks as badly as the algae it was supposed to suppress. Amid all of the murkiness over the dye, some light
needs to be shed on a few important issues, such as the impact of this supposedly
harmless dye. If light doesn’t penetrate
the dyed water beyond a couple of feet, how do sight-feeding fish find prey? And if light can’t reach submerged aquatic
plants, and the life-giving process of photosynthesis shuts down, what happens
to the aquatic critters?
The question of whether or not the Village could legally
dump the dye into public waters without a DNR permit is presently being
evaluated by authorities, so stay tuned on that. But it’s pretty clear that the dye was used as
a workaround to the Village actually obtaining a DNR permit for any of the
alternative treatments they could have sought.
You see, the dye isn’t registered (read: approved) by the EPA, which is likely
why it was used.
And then there’s the not-so-insignificant issue of where the
dye was dumped. Deltonites ought to
remember that their namesake “lake” is in truth Dell Creek, held up behind a
dam. (The creek infamously reminded us
of this during the flood of 2008, when it blew out the dam and artificial lake,
taking several homes with it). Whether
AquaBlue, PlayfulPink or RosyRed, the lake’s dye-tainted waters are currently
draining out of the lake, and right into the Wisconsin River. A greenish plume into the river was visible
shortly after the dye was dumped.
Trouble is, the dye is meant to be used “in confined
systems,” explicitly NOT for use in streams, rivers, or other flowing water bodies
that are “not under control of the user.”
Rat can’t say with authority what kind of impacts the blue colorant will
ultimately have on plants and animals downstream, but, he can say with full
certainty that the Village of Lake Delton does NOT “control” the public waters
of our state.
Rat knows desperation when he smells it. And in his heart of hearts he can’t help but
feel sympathy for folks yearning for crystal blue clean water. The green plague seems to grow worse every
year, wreaking havoc on Wisconsin’s rivers and streams. Visitors flee from the hideous stuff and small
businesses suffer the loss of income when summertime waters are marred by
algae. Here’s an idea: how about the fat
cats on the hill in Madison pay as much attention to the concerns of small
business owners affected by dirty water as they do the cries of other
businesses who want regulations gutted?
They seem to only hear one type of small business owner…the one who
hates government regulations.
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| Abstract art? Nope, just a boat landing dyed a pleasing blue tint. |
In the meantime, any rat worth his whiskers could tell you
that this expensive, temporary, and downright foolish “fix” (and significant
expenditure of local taxpayer money) won’t clean up Lake Delton in the long
term. The only way out of this slimy
mess is to look upstream and address polluted runoff problems, stopping the
slime-causing sludge at the source.
Remember our home repair question above? The algae blooms in this case are merely a symptom of the upstream problem of polluted runoff, much like
the rotten floor is a symptom of a leaky roof. Treating the symptom does nothing to alleviate the bigger problem. Fortunately, Wisconsin has tools in place, such as a progressive set of phosphorus
rules, which allow us to holistically treat upstream “problems.” But until we actually start looking for
upstream solutions instead of downstream band-aids, quick “fixes” like Lake
Delton dye dumps, Lake Menomin “scumsuckers,” or Lake Monona “solar bees,” are
looking like damned expensive lipstick on the proverbial pig.
posted by the River Rat
