Algae that looks like wet tobacco, can kill pets, sicken people, is growing in Lake Wylie

Thick mats of toxic material are creeping into Lake Wylie , rising to the surface and threatening to grow. Experts have the winter to figure out the best way to stop it.

“We’ve got a new problem on our hands, and we’re going to do the best we can to fight it,” Lake Wylie Marine Commission executive director Neil Brennan told York County Council Monday night.

That problem is lyngbya , or blue-green algae that can cause sickness for people and pets who come in contact with it. It only covers about 5 acres of Lake Wylie, but there’s been significant spread on other water bodies connected by the Catawba River. And it’s expensive to control.

Brennan updated York County Council on the growing lyngbya concern Monday. He could return to request funding for what’s estimated at a $31,000 treatment plan. The marine commission is funded by all three counties surrounding Lake Wylie, the other two being Mecklenburg and Gaston in North Carolina in addition to York County.

“This is a bigger elephant than we can handle with our budgets here,” Brennan said.

What is lyngbya?

South Carolina lists lyngbya as a harmful algal bloom, where microscopic organisms grow to create thick scums or mats on surface water. Blooms can vary in color or in how harmful they are for people and pets.

There have been reports in recent years of dogs dying after drinking or swimming in waters containing blue-green algae.

Lyngbya forms on a lake bed and in warmer months, given enough nutrients like phosphorus or nitrogen, can break free, Brennan said.

“It’s pungent,” he said. “It’s toxic. It appears as mats that rise to the surface. It looks like wet tobacco.”

People or pets can get sick by swimming, kayaking, fishing, wading in, breathing in, drinking or eating fish impacted by an algae bloom, according to the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services . Pets can experience labored breathing, seizures and neurological symptoms.

Where are the algae blooms?

A Duke Energy survey of more than 1,800 sites on Lake Wylie last year found five pockets of lyngbya near Kevin Loftin Riverfront Park in Belmont, North Carolina.

Lake Norman has 10 acres of lyngbya, and Mountain Island Lake has 20 acres, Brennan said. Lake Gaston in North Carolina isn’t on the Catawba chain, but it’s cause for concern after 1,200 acres of lyngbya were discovered three years ago, Brennan said.

Lake Wateree, south of Wylie, has the largest harmful algal bloom watch area in South Carolina, according to the state environmental department. South Carolina has more than 100 monitoring stations, most of them along the coast or north of Columbia. All of Lake Wateree, south of Great Falls, is a watch area.

There have been incidents of blue-green algae, sometimes cited as lyngbya, on smaller local waters. It was detected on an Anne Springs Close Greenway pond near a dog park five years ago in Fort Mill.

A Charlotte park pond also tested positive in 2019, and the city advised residents to avoid a dozen area ponds.

Lake Wylie also has a history with it. Three years ago blooms were detected near Tega Cay and Lake Wylie dam , and near Boyds Cove on the North Carolina end of Lake Wylie. It happened again near Tega Cay two years ago.

What can be done to stop algae growth?

Groups like the marine commission, Duke Energy and state environmental agencies have had varying degrees of success stopping invasive or harmful plant growth in Lake Wylie.

Fast-growing hydrilla was found in 2006 and grew to about 90 acres by 2008. Stocking of sterile Asian grass carp for a decade largely wiped out hydrilla beds. Alligatorweed was first detected in the mid-1980s, and is still the most commonly found invasive plant.

It was found in more than 17% of those 1,800 test sites on Lake Wylie last year.

Grass carp eat hydrilla, while it takes chemicals or pulling out alligatorweed to stop it. A new program from North Carolina State University involves putting algaecide on the lake bed to prevent lyngbya from surfacing, Brennan said. Treatments run monthly, April through September.

They aren’t cheap.

Lake Norman spent about $60,000 for its treatments, and it cost more than $700,000 to treat Lake Gaston three years ago, Brennan said. Treatment could cost $1.3 million for Lake Gaston this year, he said. Lake Wateree is looking at $110,000 in treatments, Brennan said.

Those areas all have a larger infestation of lyngbya than Lake Wylie does. But the costs highlight how important it is to keep the impacted acreage low, Brennan said.

His group and others that work along the lake will hold a symposium in December to figure out how to control the blooms and pay for treatment.

Lake Norman and Mountain Island Lake used treatment programs this year.

The marine commission began a pilot study this spring that identified the 5 acres on Lake Wylie. It also treated two sites, both on the Riverview Inn cove just north of the Wilkinson Boulevard bridge in Belmont. The commission had reserve funds to put toward the work, but doesn’t have a funding source in its annual budget for larger and more expensive treatments.

Past problem species like hydrilla and alligatorweed could grow rapidly, clogging up coves and making areas unusable for recreation. Lyngbya can do that too, but with the added element of danger for people or pets who get near it.

“It’s different from anything else we’ve seen,” Brennan said.