Madison swimming blindfolded

Anna Speaker
3/31/08

The view of an unsuspecting pair of bodiless legs treading right below the surface of the water. The accelerating two-toned music as it lurks closer and closer. And in one final moment of noise and suspense, the naïve swimmer discovers what is really prowling beneath the surface. This realization might just keep Madison swimmer’s out of the lakes this year.

But unlike the movie Jaws, the area lakes aren’t teeming with blood-thirsty great white sharks. Instead, they have become increasingly infested with bacteria and toxins from blue-green algae in recent years. The microorganisms in some area beaches on Lake Mendota and Lake Monona reached high enough levels for the past five water sample readings to be proposed to the 2008 Impaired Waters List, a state compilation of beaches with consistently high E.coli readings above Environmental Protection Agency levels. The tentative 2008 list included James Madison Park Beach, Olbrich Park Beach and Olin Park Beach among others.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources limnologist, Dick Lathrop, said that the increase in weed growth and bacteria is the result of manure runoff from local farms. According to Lathrop, the water that flows downstream from the fields when the show melts each spring maintains the high nutrient levels from the fertilizer. The runoff that reaches the lakes contains high phosphorous levels that lead to overflowing weeds and algae, some of which can emit toxins and create a breeding ground for bacteria.

“The one gorilla that hasn’t been tackled yet, I feel, is the manure run-off problem, and we have to stop spreading manure, not just in the winter, but totally,” Lathrop said. If farmers stop spreading manure, the lakes blue-green algae levels will drop making it safer to swim for beachgoers.

UW-Madison students seem to have the same reaction to the smell of manure in lakes as manure on fields. Frequent summer beachgoer and University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduate, Molly Stapleton, said that she stopped swimming at the Union Terrace towards the middle of last summer once the warm weather amped the odor of the algae.“Once it started to smell, it’s like, ok, there’s no way I’m diving into this lake,” she said.

Other beachgoers aren’t so cautious. Will Dunlop, a student at MATC, said he would still go swimming even if the DNR issued a beach advisory due to elevated E.coli levels. Dunlop’s concern was focused more on the blue-green algae and he said he would feel less inclined to swim in the algae infested water. “I don’t really like the feeling of all the stuff on the lakes,” he said.

While the microorganisms irritate swimmers’ noses and skin, they can prompt far more unseen damage. The toxins that the blue-green algae emit can lead to gastrointestinal problems, cell damage, and some can cause harm to the kidneys and the nervous system.

The Wisconsin Beach Health Web site advises beachgoers to use common sense while swimming because it is difficult to determine the amount of blue-green algal toxins present. The Web site issues postings of beach closings due to bacteria, but Stapleton and Dunlop both said they would not look online to see if the beach was closed before heading out to the lake.

In order to make the lakes healthier to swim in, the levels of bacteria and toxins must be reduced. Stapleton said, “It’s definitely hard to get a lake that’s this bad up to its normal level that it should be. I mean, it’s going to take a lot.”

Lathrop is more optimistic about the amount of time this will take. Lathrop said, “I don’t think that they have to last 50 years continuing the problem, if we could stop this manure run-off thing, we’re going to see it in the lifetime of some of us.”

As a beachgoer, Stapleton remains skeptical about the farmers’ response to Lathrop’s suggestion. Stapleton said “It’s easy to say, ‘Ok, don’t fertilize farms,’ but really, it’s not at all. You know that’s not going to happen. You know farmers need fertilizers to grow crops. It’s what we should do, but it’s not going to happen.”

Stapleton may be right, but to take care of this beast in the water, it might take more than three men in a boat with harpoons.