Lake Lindero fish kill under control, management says




Dead carp wash up at Lake Lindero in Agoura Hills.

Dead carp wash up at Lake Lindero in Agoura Hills.

The fish kill at Lake Lindero in Agoura Hills appears to be over.
Some 200 fish, mostly carp, were found dead Sunday and Monday at the man-made lake.The lake management said the fish died from lack of oxygen in the water.
Lake Lindero residents who live on the water suffered through a terrible stench until the dead fish were removed.
David Smith, president of Golf Projects Lindero, the company that maintains the lake and nearby golf course, acknowledged that similar fish kills have occurred in the past. Every year during the hot summer months the fish are at risk because the warm, still water encourages the growth of algae.
“Algae sucks oxygen from the water, which is harmful to fish,” Smith said.
“This is not the first time that this has happened to the fish in the lake” said Tyler Odney, a 17-year-old resident who enjoys fishing in Lake Lindero. “I feel that it is (Golf Projects Lindero’s) responsibility to keep our lake clean and fishable for all the local fisherman around the lake.”
Smith said the fish started to die on Sat., Aug. 17 and continued on Sunday and Monday evenings. About 90 percent of the fish casualties were carp, he said. The last of the decaying—and smelly—fish were removed from the lake by Tuesday. By Wednesday morning the emergency appeared to be over.
“They only die when the sun goes down,” Smith said. “Oxygen is (actually) created from algae during the day.”
When a fish kills occurs, Smith said the lake is treated with a series of chemicals. Rather than aggressively treating the entire lake, which would kill all algae, deplete oxygen and risk a larger fish kill, the management company opted for a more moderate approach and chose to apply algaecide in targeted amounts over a three-week time period to spare as many fish as possible.
The algaecide treatment will be followed by the application of aluminum sulphate to minimize the phosphorus produced by dying plant material. Phosphorous encourages new algae.
Not all of the lake was affected. The lake’s three fingers, or inlets, are artificially aerated, Smith said, and aeration creates additional oxygen for the fish.
“There wasn’t a fish kill in those areas of the lake,” Smith said.
The main body of the lake—which likes between a spillway where Lindero Creek enters the lake and a dam near Lake Lindero Drive and Canwood Street where the lake ends—does not receive aeration.
The Lake Lindero Homeowners Association recently dredged the lake to remove debris and improve overall depth and quality.
The average depth of the lake is now seven feet. Prior to dredging, the years of silt accumulation from upstream development had reduced the average depth to less than three feet.
“We dredged five feet of silt out of lake,” Smith said. “The good news is that the deeper the water the less likely it is to get hot. If there is any kind of good news, had the association not dredged the lake the situation would have been far worse.
“Golf Projects Lindero “is sensitive to this situation and are diligently working to restore oxygen levels and protect the fish,” Smith said.
Ironically, it was the dredging work that released nutrients from the lake’s bottom and spurred the recent algae bloom. Smith said the dredging company had warned that an algae bloom might be a byproduct of the dredging.
The $600,000 dredging project that lasted from December 2012 until February 2013 was performed not only for the health of the lake, but to help the homeowner association and the City of Agoura Hills meet the new clean water demands of the state. While the lake manager maintains water quality at the lake, it’s the responsibility of the homeowners to pay for dredging projects, according to the association’s contract.
The lake had not been dredged since 1984.
Approximately 5,000 cubic yards of sand and silt was removed from the lake bottom and transported to newly created retention basins on the Lake Lindero golf course.

 

 

 

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