Griffy Lake Chemical Treatment to Start
Posted on: Friday, 31 March 2006, 18:00 CST
By Sarah Morin, Herald-Times, Bloomington, Ind.
Mar. 31--A chemical called Sonar will be released into Bloomington's Griffy Lake within the next two to three weeks to treat the invasive weed Brazilian elodea.
After an initial treatment of 20 parts per billion, an application of 12 ppb will be used for 60 days.
Brazilian elodea crowds out native aquatic plants, restricts water movement, interferes with the fish population and affects boating, fishing and swimming. For the second time this year, the boat ramp at Griffy Lake will be closed to outside boats -- out of fear that more elodea could be brought in or out. It spreads by fragments.
The Department of Natural Resources will treat Griffy Lake against the wishes of the city administration, which last year proposed a drawdown of the lake as a way to combat the fast-growing weed.
DNR officials determined that treating the lake was the better of these two options. They shared their reasons behind this decision Thursday at a presentation inside City Hall.
"There are far too many risks associated with the drawdown," said Doug Keller, aquatic invasive species coordinator.
Drawing down the lake with a drainage pipe could destroy the lake's fishery, which is valued at $250,000, Keller said.
And moving the fish from the lake during treatment wasn't an option.
Keller estimated that there are 25,000 pounds of fish in Griffy Lake.
"We don't have trucks that hold 25,000 pounds of fish," he said.
A drawdown could also cause considerable damage to the population of frogs, turtles and other creatures that could die because of a lower water level, Keller said.
Other obstacles facing the drawdown method are precipitation or rainfall, which would refill the lake, and spreading of the elodea fragments through a drain to lower the lake.
As for the chemical treatment, Keller said, the only drawback is it will kill native species -- as would a drawdown.
A stronger chemical called Reward could be used in certain spots to kill off the dense green weed that has infested Griffy Lake -- the most northern location of the weed in the Midwest.
Both Sonar and Reward are approved as herbicides by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The active ingredient in Sonar is fluridone. Someone would have to eat three-quarters of a pound in its raw form to get a lethal dose, which is half the amount it would take for table salt to be toxic, Keller said. Reward is more potent, and a tablespoon of it digested in raw form could be lethal, he said.
Treatment of the lake will cost $64,000, according to DNR officials.
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Source: Herald-Times
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