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I ran into Dave Foster, who tends Echo Park Lake the other day, and we talked about...the lake. A couple of things I didn't know (or maybe forgot): Echo Park Lake has a clay bottom. It's a real lake, albeit one that's filled with tap water and rimmed with cement. Also, the lake is leaking. They are not sure where the leak is occurring, but water is leaving -- probably through one of the storm drains -- and so municipal water is being pumped in much more rapidly than usual. Which leads me to...cool, clear water....
Martin Cox emailed me a few days ago that he, too, talked to Dave. They discussed algae.
[Dave] told me he had been flushing the lake with clean water, which is why it was suddenly so clear, but he agreed with me that a natural process of clearing had already begun, although the new water gave it a kick. But he added that the new sunlight in to the water will encourage algae to grow.
I have seen this on previous years where the lake is clearing in Spring but by Summer is laden with algae growths.
Or, as Marty Robbins sang:
All day I've faced a barren waste/ Without the taste of water, cool water/ Old Dan and I with throats burned dry/ And souls that cry for water/Cool, clear, water
