Capitol Lake in trouble, time to clean it up

Capitol Lake is in trouble — it is very unhealthy for a lake. The dissolved oxygen levels of this lake are very low because the algae has been sucking the oxygen out of the water, making it harder for fish, invertebrates, and yearly visitors like king and chum salmon to live and breed in and it is killing the animals inside the lake.

Also the lake is hideous to look at. Every time I look at the Capitol, under its feet is an unhealthy, disgusting lake.

This problem needs to be solved if we care about the animals and the city. We should reduce the amount of pollution that goes into the lake, terminate the algae that stains the lake, and preserve the animals that live there. We should also keep track of the dissolve oxygen levels of the lake so we know the conditions of the lake.

Also during the summers it gets very hot, and if we clean the lake, fisherman, swimmers, and boaters will come and will give local shops more business.

An example of what could happen to Capitol Lake is what happened in the Hood Canal. About 7 years ago, it had an algae bloom reducing the oxygen levels in the canal. It got to the point were animals like lingcod, wolf fish, rockfish, and giant pacific octopuses were in less than 10 feet of water, slowly suffocating. This killed many fish and other organisms leaving the ecosystem scared.

Thank you for listening.