by Keith L. Martin | Staff Writer
As temperatures rise, more people will line up to feast at the outdoor tables at restaurants along Carroll Creek Linear Park.
Frederick officials hope the ever-present algae that also lines the creek in spring and summer does not join them.
They have spent $5,200 for devices designed to keep algae from making itself seen and smelled by visitors.
Roelkey Myers, the city’s director of Parks and Recreation, said the city has a new weapon to fight the algae blooms that rise to the top of the creek as summer approaches.
The city recently bought 56 AquaSpherePRO units, or as they are better known, ‘‘bio-balls.”
Manufactured by Minnesota-based Bioverse, the six-inch plastic balls contain plastic bags that dissolve, releasing bacteria and enzymes into the water, reducing sludge and accompanying odors.
‘‘The enzymes essentially creep out of the ball and eat the material the algae needs to survive, while keeping the water health for fish and the environment,” Myers said. ‘‘...We are hoping it starves the algae right out of the creek.”
Myers said once water temperatures reach 40 degrees over several days, park attendants will tether the balls to the bottom of the creek with weights so they float underwater. The goal is to place eight ‘‘bio-balls” every 100 feet along the creek, changing them once a month for four months.
The city also plans to use the devices in Whittier Lake, which also faces similar algae problems.
Each month, the old bio-ball is discarded and a new one is used, meaning 56 devices are needed for both bodies of water, costing the city $5,200 for the pilot program.
The city will then look to see if they want to invest in four more months of the devices to carry them into October, when cooler weather returns.
This is not the city’s first battle against creek algae. They most recently tried barley bales submerged in the water near East Street, a so-so remedy, Myers said.
‘‘For the first 200 yards, there was no algae,” he said. ‘‘...The barley bales were encouraging, but there was no proven reduction [of algae]. They would also break up, which brings in the issue of cleaning them up out of the creek.”
Last January, the city paid $157,000 to install a concrete floor to the area where the natural creek meets the city’s man-made creek at Bentz and Patrick streets.
That too had a slight impact on increasing water flow, which was hoped to stem algae blooms.
‘‘When the natural creek comes in, there is sediment, like dirt and mud, that builds up,” Myers said. ‘‘If you can get rid of that sediment, you help the flow ... but the bottom line is that [the man-made portion] was designed too flat, so it decreases flow.”
Alderman Marcia A. Hall (D), a member of the city’s Carroll Creek Task Force, called the algae ‘‘a fact of life,” present three weeks ago in her visit to San Antonio’s Riverwalk, the inspiration for Frederick’s man-made waterway.
‘‘We need to mitigate and control it, but also understand that it is a natural process and doesn’t suggest that the water is unhealthy,” she said. ‘‘...To say [the creek] ‘stinks’ is stronger than anything I’ve experienced while walking in the area. Some people say they don’t like the smell of soy sauce or French fries [from restaurants] ... and that odor is more intense.”
Hall’s colleague, Alderman Alan E. Imhoff (R), agreed that algae is a biological reality, but said his concern is more with the flow and ‘‘entertainment value” the city sought in developing the area in the first place.
‘‘I’m looking at water moving faster, on a regular basis, and creating the sound of water moving versus a dead canal,” he said.
‘‘If you want something people will walk towards as an attraction, you want them to see something versus saying ‘look at all the algae.’”
As the city continues to develop the linear park in the next year, more water features for entertainment and better flow are planned, according to Richard Griffin, the city’s director of economic development.
From cascading fountains between Court and Market streets to water jets to circulate water, Griffin said the city is working to make the creek an attraction for everyone.
‘‘From an economic, tourism, resident and business standpoint, the goal is to keep the creek as clean and attractive as possible, and I think the city is doing that,” he said.
‘‘...I consider [exploring options] like surgery, where you do it carefully and one step at a time to see you are doing things right.”
