That smell? Some of us old enough to remember the '70s song by the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynard may have recently been wondering if it applies to Lake Glenville.
Starting just after March 15th, we started seeing signs that the Lake was going to have a more significant "turnover" than we have seen in years.
On Saturday, April 4th, we saw it (very turbid water in undisturbed areas) and smelled it (decomposing plant material) as the Lake did a rapid turnover, basically bringing water and material from the bottom to the top, and vice versa.
What's Turnover?
This
handy article by Nathan Wissenbach of the New York Rural Water Association does a good job of explaining it, but in short: lake turnover is a natural phenomenon that occurs during winter and spring in which the lake's layers are rapidly mixed due to rapid temperature changes.
In the case of Lake Glenville, the causes are the ongoing drought in the area and because of reduced cold-stream flow into the Lake caused by the drought, a relatively quick change in temperature at the surface.
The majority of the effects should dissipate within 48 hours and be completely gone in less than 2 weeks.
Thank you,
David Feist
Director of Water Quality
Friends of Lake Glenville
Photo courtesy of FLG Board member, Tom Albert.
