Daphnia, tiny crustaceans in Lake Mendota that graze on algae, and their good works are in danger. Each year their population is now crashing in the late summer as they are decimated by a voracious new predator called the spiny waterflea.
Category: Murky Waters
The Capital Times and Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism proudly present Murky Waters, a four-part series examining threats to the quality of the Madison area’s spectacular lakes, and ambitious new efforts that seek to improve them. Researchers around the world are watching our lakes in hopes of adapting these lessons to troubled bodies of water in other areas.
Posted inEnvironment, Murky Waters, Water Watch Wisconsin
Lake scientists to Kegonsa: Lower your water quality expectations
All lakes are not created equal. And in the Madison area’s Yahara chain, Lake Kegonsa is the redheaded steplake.
Posted inEnvironment, Murky Waters, Water Watch Wisconsin
Landowners, volunteers unite to clean up ‘impaired’ waters
Efforts to clean up lakes Mendota, Monona, Kegonsa and Waubesa are employing conservation practices that originated in Dane County back in the 1970s — just on steroids.
Posted inEnvironment, Murky Waters, Water Watch Wisconsin
Case study: How one developer plans to curb runoff into Madison’s lakes
“Developers are often demonized, but I have probably planted more trees than 99 percent of citizens and the city of Madison,” said Wall, the 2009 recipient of the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Energy Efficiency and a one-time Republican U.S. Senate candidate who lost to Ron Johnson. “There is nothing worse than a town filled with concrete.”
Posted inEnvironment, Murky Waters, Water Watch Wisconsin
Leaky sewer pipes could export viruses to lakes
A Milwaukee scientist who has found sewage migrating from old pipes through soil and into the stormwater lines that drain to lakes or streams says the problem is likely to occur in Madison and cities nationwide.
Posted inEnvironment, Murky Waters, Water Watch Wisconsin
How to make a digester profitable: Veggies and poker chips
The greenhouse and its veggies are one example of a new cottage industry popping up across the country to capitalize on the waste energy, methane gas and the nutrient-rich solids that are emitted from a digester.
Posted inEnvironment, Murky Waters, Water Watch Wisconsin
Manure digesters seen as best hope for curbing lake pollution, but drawbacks remain
Since 2001, manure digesters have been popping up across the state. Wisconsin now has 34, the most in the nation, with two more scheduled to begin operating by 2015. In all these digesters, bacteria eat biomass like manure, food scraps or whey and emit energy in the form of methane gas.
Posted inEnvironment, Health & Welfare, Murky Waters, Water Watch Wisconsin
All about algal blooms
How to spot them, what to do if you do, and signs of illness.
Posted inEnvironment, Health & Welfare, Murky Waters, Water Watch Wisconsin
Lake experiments explore roles of fish, computers, alum and more
The Yahara watershed is crawling with scientists who keep trying new ways to clean up the lakes.
Posted inEnvironment, Murky Waters, Water Watch Wisconsin
Yahara beach closures highlight algae, bacteria threats statewide
The Yahara lakes — Mendota, Monona, Wingra, Waubesa and Kegonsa — are no clearer than they were 30 years ago, despite intensive efforts to improve them.