
LAKEPORT – After considering the summertime algae troubles of the Clear Lake Keys and other hard-hit areas, the Board of Supervisors Tuesday decided that developing short- and long-term plans to deal with the algae issues was a better choice than declaring a state of emergency.
Board Chair Denise Rushing asked the board to discuss what measures they could take in the current situation.
In the Clear Lake Keys, located in Rushing's Northshore district, the algae has created different problems than it has elsewhere. The lakeside community's channels are clogged with the algae, which has been particularly abundant this year.
The Keys' homeowners association is looking for assistance, and Rushing said she'd learned this past week that there was possible funding available for eradication.
After seeing the algae for herself firsthand, she called it “disastrous” and said she wanted to see it declared a disaster due to health and business concerns.
Community members, Rushing reported, were finding that the algae drifts from the lake itself were contributing to the problem. She said she wanted to ask the county's Lakebed Management division for help in dealing with the problem.
Supervisor Rob Brown suggested rather than giving loans as it had in the past – one of which was partially forgiven – was not as good an option as establishing a benefit zone to clean up the algae. He compared it to a benefit zone established to help clear snow in one Cobb area.
“Is it truly an emergency or is it just an inconvenience?” Brown asked.
Rushing said it was a good question.
“Until you are next to the lake you don't really appreciate what they are dealing with here,” she said, noting that the thick, dried algae clogging the main channel looks like broken concrete.
Supervisor Anthony Farrington said the county will see more impacts – such as the algae – resulting from low water levels on the environment. “Pushing for this declaration is the right direction,” he said.
Brown wondered what would do the most harm – algae or headlines in Wednesday's papers announcing that the county had been declared a disaster area. “There's a lot to consider,” he said.
Ruth Valenzuela of state Assemblyman Wes Chesbro's office told the board they didn't need a disaster declaration to get help with state funding. She suggested the county needed to put an abatement plan in place.
Rushing asked about the source of the state funds that could help the county. Valenzuela said the funds come from court judgments won by the state water board, with the funds then going into an abatement fund. The situation fit because of health concerns which were identified in a June 19 statement from Lake County Public Health, she said.
Brown suggested the perception has been the problem, referencing Bay Area media coverage of the bloom.
Pam Francis, deputy director of the county's Water Resources Division, said a community service district – as Brown had suggested – can't address algae.
Eric Jensen, who sits on the board of directors for the Keys homeowners association, said mosquitoes also have become bad in the area, and that a type of algae harvester demonstrated last week is very expensive to rent.
Supervisor Jeff Smith said he spent two hours running his boat around the lake near Clearlake's Redbud Park, and that it helped clear the area out.
Rushing said a near-term solution isn't helping the lake's long-term issues. While the algae isn't this severe every year, when it's this dramatic the county needs to have a contingency plan.
Sunset Resort owner Dian Gibson said she's heavily impacted by how the algae has affected the city of Clearlake, where her resort is located. She's new to the county and said she was “ill prepared” for the severity of an algae bloom. Gibson said she's not had a guest since June 13.
Gibson and Clearlake City Council member Joyce Overton are working together to create a volunteer base to work on algae-related issues. They've also hosted two algae town halls.
Big Valley Rancheria Environmental Director Sarah Ryan said they've had success clearing the algae, which arrived at the rancheria's Konocti Vista Casino marina on Aug. 8.
She said she uses three people a day who skim off the algae and shoot it with a fire hose that uses recirculated water from the lake. That's been pretty successful for only a few thousand dollars, said Ryan, noting it would be unbearable to live with if it were like other areas of the lake.
Ryan wondered if the homes and houseboats on the Keys were contributing to nutrient loading that is feeding the algae.
Sierra Club Lake Group Chair Victoria Brandon said it's ironic that the algae is coming up in connection with the Keys area, which used to be a wetland. She noted wetlands are how the lake cleans itself.
Darin McCosker, general manager for the Clearlake Oaks County Water District, said about $1.5 million has been spent by his district since 2002 to make sure the sewer system isn't part of the problem.
McCosker agreed with the need to look at solutions for both now and in the future, and should include a mechanical removal component.
Dr. John Zebelean told the board that “hiding the reality is not going to help at all” when it comes to the algae situation.
Zebelean said it's not algae but a living organism, cyanobacteria, that's plaguing the lake.
The board ended the discussion by directing county staff to begin looking at a plan.
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