06-20-2007, 04:10 PM
Starting May 30, the City of Tucson began a special water treatment procedure for Lakeside Lake as part of a program to improve water quality in the lake and maintain environmental standards. Lake conditions have already been greatly improved since the installation of the state-of-the-art aeration system five years ago. Now Tucson wants to improve water conditions further with the addition of alum (aluminum sulfate) to help control excessive organic materials in the water. Applied by lake management professionals, alum is applied in liquid form from a boat. The alum causes suspended particles and algae in the water to settle harmlessly to the bottom of the lake. Alum, commonly used to treat drinking water, is environmentally safe and will not harm humans or fish. For a couple days after a treatment, the lake may appear milky or cloudy in appearance, but once it settles, water clarity will improve. Treatments will be applied over the summer as necessary to maintain water quality. Game and Fish biologists will evaluate results from this special alum treatment procedure to determine it's usefulness at other Urban waters.