Green Water 2

While vacationing at Big Kandiyohi Lake near Lake Lillian, MN this past July, I took this photograph of the lake. Everyday the water on our side of the lake would turn thick and green--almost like finger paint--due to the algae. Normally, Minnesota lakes are crystal clear, but due to the nitrogen run off from the farms that surround the lake, the algae goes crazy. The process is called eutophication. Other lakes in the area didn't have this issue ... at least not to this magnitude. In fact, in nearby Litchfield, MN, Ripley Lake was so clear you could see to the bottom! The locals are used to the water being this way everyday, but for those of us who expected otherwise, it came as quite a shock--quite a disappointment to those of us who wanted to spend our nights camping under the stars and our days swimming in the lake ...