We interrupt this “Fish Fry Day” to bring you breaking news. Or, well, not news, but a timely example of the challenges urban water bodies like Madison’s lakes face on a daily basis.
On his way in to work this rainy morning, CFL graduate student (and “David Buoy‘s handler”), Luke WInslow, snapped a few pictures of runoff from the Memorial Union construction as it headed downhill and ended up in the choppy Lake Mendota waters, creating a sediment plume along the shoreline.
While not the main source of pollution in Lake Mendota (that dubious distinction goes to agricultural runoff), construction sites do play a substantial role in adding what’s called “non-point source” pollution to our lakes. In fact, they must obtain storm water permits from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for any work near aquatic ecosystems. Let’s hope the construction crew jumps on this quickly before anything else starts leaving the construction site and ends up in our lakes.
More photos below. (“Fish Fry Day” will resume next week!)
