Fond Algae Memories at Echo Park Lake Los Angeles

benHere you can see Benjamin Rasmussen of The Pond Company holding up his great ball of algae in Echo Park Lake!

A lot of algae was removed by hand and rolled up into ball shapes and taken out of the water. During the Echo Park Lake Clean-up, massive amounts of algae and debris were removed from the lake by The Pond Company. The water of the lake has since been clearing up, allowing for the gorgeous lilies and lotus plants to bloom, and for the surrounding wet-lands to flourish.

Echo Park Lake Algae Clean-up


OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Echo Park Lake was originally created in the 1860’s as a reservoir for drinking water, But you sure wouldn’t want to be drinking the water anytime soon!

Today, Echo Park Lake Functions mainly as a basin for the City’s storm drain system, as well as it provides for recreational activities and wildlife habitats. Not to mention, there is an incredible amount of algae that grows abundant in the water of Echo Park.

The City of Los Angeles funded a Clean-up for Echo Park, a a two-year renovation costing 45 million dollars. Some of the major changes included new plantings of water Lilies, and lotus plants, as well as removal of the algae from the water. The Pond Company was assigned as part of the clean-up crew for an over-seeing of the constructing of plant protection as well as the algae clean-up. The once murky and dirty water has been transformed into a gorgeous display of lilies, wetlands and the fantastic blooming lotus. On June 15, 2013 a grand opening was held for Echo Park Lake, when it became officially open to the public. Crowds of people flooded into the park to to witness the long-awaited opening of Echo Park Lake.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Methods of the clean-up included hand removing the algae and rolling it into ball shapes to be taken out. Wheelbarrow loads of algae have since been removed from the Echo Park Lake. On the left Jon Rasmussen of the Pond Company is carrying a heavy load of algae removed from the water hawthorne and water lily beds.

About Algae

AlgaeIn any pond, algae is always present. It is natural and good to have algae in any organic water body. Keep in mind that algae is a plant that Mother Nature uses in the following way:

Here’s what happens

Your fish eat food, which they then turn to waste.

That waste is ammonia, which is converted biologically to nitrites.

Via the nitrogen cycle the nitrites are turned into nitrates (a fertilizer).

The nitrates feed the pond plants. Remember that algae is a plant, thus if there are no other plants in the pond, or a limited number of aquatic plants in the pond, the algae will grow to “pick up the slack”. – This may be why you have an algae boom; a green pond.

See: http://www.thepondcompany.com/going green