GRAND LAKE AIN'T SO...

[Teatownclown]

grand.

Oklahoma agency discourages swimming in Grand Lake
http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Oklahoma-agency-discourages-swimming-in-Grand-Lake-1449269.php

GRDA advises public to stay out of Grand Lake
http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news/GRDA-advises-public-to-stay-out-of-Grand-Lake
"Test results from late yesterday (Thursday) afternoon showed BGA toxicity at higher levels than before, and this is a situation that continues to develop rapidly,"


This may well be the worst 4th of July in the lakes history.  


Is it that nobody knows, nobody cares or just reckless corporate greed once again survives at the cost of the environment. Jim Inhofe has a house on the lake. I hope he goes swimming around this weekend and gets a good dose of what has made the lake terminal. GDFriggin hippies were right. Save Mother Earth!

[Townsend]

Jim Inhofe has a house on the lake. I hope he goes swimming around this weekend and gets a good dose of what has made the lake terminal.

He blames a recent illness on this already.

http://www.newsok.com/article/3581968

[Teatownclown]

He blames a recent illness on this already.

http://www.newsok.com/article/3581968

Karma. What goes around comes around. Thanks.

Too bad Grand Lake is now toxic. I miss the good old days.

[Townsend]

Karma. What goes around comes around. Thanks.

Too bad Grand Lake is now toxic. I miss the good old days.

Those coves were toxic all the years I was there.  Different toxins though.

[SXSW]

I imagine Lake Skiatook will benefit from this.  Already closer to Tulsa and much cleaner.  The only problem is that it is a Corps lakes meaning no private development along the shores like Grand and other popular "housing lakes" like Travis by Austin and Ozarks up in MO.

I like Grand though, hate to see it turn into such a polluted mess. 

[AquaMan]

Skiatook has been real low this year. Not going to benefit much in the short term. It's shallow even in normal conditions. It also has a reputation for chewing up or breaking props because they didn't remove tree stumps before filling it. Both me and my brother have lost props there (mine near the dam).

My money is on Grand getting cleaned up some how. Too much money invested there to just let it become chicken poop soup.
Back in the seventies when it flooded twice, damaging some very nice properties, they made changes and it has never flooded again.

[sauerkraut]

Not so Grand- From what the articles say Blue-Green Algae is abundant & natural  in shallow warm water,  it's not caused by man- most Blue-Green Algae is not toxic but some Algae blooms can become toxic as is the case in Grand Lake. I guess all people can do is go someplace else if they want to swim.

[Townsend]

Fallin encouraging Oklahomans to go to Grand Lake

I knew it.  She'll kill us all.

A pic showing how she's going to scoop it all out with her hands:



Per the world:

OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Mary Fallin wants Oklahomans planning on going to Grand Lake over the Independence Day holiday weekend to not cancel their plans.


Fallin is encouraging tourism around the lake after the Grand River Dam Authority said Friday it's discouraging swimming in Grand Lake because of the presence of blue-green algae, which can produce toxins harmful to humans and animals.

Fallin tells The Associated Press her family planned a trip to Grand Lake for this weekend and is still going. She says there's a lot to do around Grand Lake even if the water is off-limits.

She says there are public pools and golf courses, fireworks shows, an air show, free concerts and numerous tourist attractions in the area. She says she's concerned about the economic impact of the water issue.

   

[AquaMan]

Not so Grand- From what the articles say Blue-Green Algae is abundant & natural  in shallow warm water,  it's not caused by man- most Blue-Green Algae is not toxic but some Algae blooms can become toxic as is the case in Grand Lake. I guess all people can do is go someplace else if they want to swim.

Read the whole article. This particular blue/green algae is more toxic causing sickness and even death. Everything in Grand lake is pretty much man made including the dam that creates it, the leaking septic systems, the leaking fuel and the discharge going into the watershed upstream. If I remember right that includes nasty Pryor Creek and the Miami/Picher area with its famous chat piles.  A lot of local farmers in that watershed use chicken poop as fertilizer on their fields which washes off into the rivers feeding Grand Lake (which I assume is what the clown is referring to).

[Townsend]

Now there's a semi wrecked on Will Rogers...it's a sign.

[DolfanBob]

Can you say Tenkiller or Eufaula Lake maybe. 

[nathanm]

Eh, building on a Corps lake isn't that bad. IIRC, you only have to be 100 or 150 feet from the water. Getting a dock approved is a bigger challenge, but still doable if the particular body of water isn't maxed out already.

[Red Arrow]

Look, I know you're generally only semi-rational, but please explain how an algae bloom is connected to corporate greed? 

That's easy.

Corporate America only cares about profits.  Anything that occurs  that is environmentally bad is because Corporate America doesn't care about anything but profit.  Or at least that is the dogma.

[Teatownclown]

The entire watershed that dumps into Grand Lake has finger prints from tar creek and big poultry factories. I am sorry if you see this as dogma. Those who care about the good earth have never considered pollution a political football. Yes, profits come before discipline with the air we breath, the water we drink, the forests and the oceans. It's greed and profit motivation that over many years went unchecked at the expense of the environment. Do you think government is responsible for the mess? Certainly, regulatory agencies were enablers and not watchdogs.

[nathanm]

Look, I know you're generally only semi-rational, but please explain how an algae bloom is connected to corporate greed?  

I can answer this. Tyson doesn't pay chicken farmers enough to dispose of the generated chicken poop in an environmentally sound way, therefore the farmers sell the poop to other farmers who want to use the poop as fertilizer, which then runs off into rivers and causes algae blooms. Worse, the standard way of utilizing the chicken poop is to mix it with water to form a slurry and drive a truck around spraying it on the field, thus giving the streams and rivers a big shot all at once.

You clearly have not watched enough Connections.

Edited to add: By the way, chicken poop slurry is one of the foulest smelling things I've had the displeasure of smelling. I would rather walk around with fresh cow smile coating my shoes than have my neighbor spray chicken poop on his field. The only saving grace is that they only do it once or twice a year. They didn't really start doing the poop slurry thing until the late 90s. Arkansas was a much better smelling place before that time.