A local company, Lambda Bioremediation Systems has a plan to eliminate the toxic Blue-Green algae from Grand Lake St. Marys.
"Our single-cell organism is all natural and eliminates the food source (phosphorus) of algae," said Gary Harkey, spokesperson for Lambda.
The product has been used on at least two ponds in Dublin. Heather Glen Park was sprayed with Lambda's consortium last July. Shallow and algae-filled, it is now clear of most visible algae and wildlife abound.
The other pond, in front of the City of Dublin's Recreation Center was sprayed eight weeks ago with a similar solution. It still has some algae on it, but Harkey says, "it is dying."
ODNR Spokesperson Mike Shelton said, "We welcome any and all ideas for combating the Blue-Green Algae on Grand Lake and we are reviewing different solutions from companies."
One of those solutions is a pilot project to disperse Alum into Grand Lake. Alum grabs ahold of the nutrients, starving the algae from food. But, there others who think there is a better way.
"What our product does is it attacks the phosphorous in the Blue-Green algae at the same time," said Harkey.
That method would cut off the food supply to the algae.
"When your adding heavy metal to a place that already has metal in it you are just asking for a problem in the long run," said Harkey.
Right now there are several competing ideas, but no solution has been settled on.
"A number of companies have contacted us and that's very helpful," said Shelton.
Regardless of how the algae is eliminated, David Culver a Biological Sciences Professor at OSU said, "The question you have to ask is what can we make limiting most conveniently and phosphorus is the item of choice."
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