THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 15, 1996 TAG: 9606150314
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 45 lines
A city public works crew began its fifth fish-kill cleanup of the late spring Friday morning, this time on Great Neck Lake, where thousands of dead bream and bass have floated to the surface and are beginning to rot.
The cause of the widespread kill was oxygen deprivation in the freshwater lake, which empties into the Lynnhaven River at the southern tip of Great Neck Estates, said Milt Johnston, waste management compliance manager for the state Department of Environmental Quality.
``We've been out there since this morning and haven't even made a dent in it,'' said Wayne Creef, of the city's beach management division, who is heading the cleanup. ``We're going to be out there early in the morning, too.''
The cleanup effort will continue until all of the fish - thousands of them - are netted and dumped into the city's landfill operation at Mount Trashmore II, Creef said.
Creef and crew members have had to clean up four other fish kills in the past few weeks in man-made lakes and ditches in the Salem and Holland Road areas.
``It happens every year,'' said Valerie Reich, environmental health supervisor for the city's Health Department. ``It's usually the result of a lack of oxygen in the water, which is depleted by a sudden algae bloom in the water.'' Algae bloom is often hastened by fertilizer runoff from nearby residential yards, she said.
Marvin Seay, who has lived at his lakeside home on Millwood Road in Great Neck Estates for 20 years, doubts the algae growth theory. The last fish kill in the lake was about 15 years ago, he said. Since then, residents have had the lake water treated chemically twice yearly to stem the algae growth, he said. The last treatment was in April.
``We have not had an algae problem this year,'' Seay said.
Johnston, of the DEQ, said tests Friday showed that there was ``low dissolved-oxygen content'' in the lake water and that it, not fertilizer or chemical runoff, caused the kill.
The lake predates World War II, when it was used as a farm pond to water cattle, Creef said. Since then the area has developed into an upper-middle-income neighborhood, where the lake's banks have become dotted with brick and frame single-family homes that are bordered by spacious green lawns. by CNB