26 days after the storm in Middleton: Pheasant Branch Creek algae bloom

Photo by Retiring Guy

After the flood: The sun shines, water recedes and algae bloom. (Wisconsin State Journal, 9/11/2018)

The underlying cause of hazardous bacterial blooms is an overabundance of the nutrient phosphorus. Rain has been carrying phosphorus off farm fields and city streets for many decades. 

Algae outbreaks aren’t unusual this time of year. As the water starts to cool and sink, nutrients that have built up near lake bottoms can start rising toward the surface, setting off explosions of what scientists call “cyanobacteria” — commonly called blue-green algae. 

But heavy rains that fell across the Lake Mendota and Lake Monona drainage basins Aug. 20 almost certainly washed a big new load of the fertilizer into the water.

After the storm in Middleton (and Madison) posts:
Pheasant Branch Trail at Park Street (part 2).  (8/21/2018)
Powerwashing between the Beltline and Parmenter Street.  (8/22/2018)
Along Pheasant Branch Creek east of Parmenter Street.  (8/23/2018)
Costco and environs.  (8/23/2018 update)
Entrance to Esser Place parking lot, then and now.  (8/24/2018)
Longmeadow Drive and Stricker's Pond, then and now.  (8/24/2018)
Greenway Station is open for business.  (8/24/2018 update)
Views of Pheasant Branch Creek from Parmenter Street bridge.  (8/25/2018 update)
Intersection of U.S. highway 14 and Deming Way.  (8/27/2018 update)
Century Avenue and entrances to Pheasant Branch Conservancy trails.  (8/27/2018)
UW Health administration office building.  (8/27/2018)
Longmeadow Gulch.  (8/28/2018)

Pheasant Branch Trail at Park Street (part 1).  (9/3/2018 update)
Woodside Heights Park.  (9/4/2018 update)
Stricker's Park.  (9/4/2018 update)

Boardwalk access ramp to Tiedeman Pond.  (9/7/2018 update)
Flooding in East Washington/East Mifflin area of Madison.  (9/7/2018)
Tiedeman Pond access at Pond View Road.  (9/9/2018 update)
Tiedeman Pond pumping.  (9/10/2018 update)
Voss Parkway.  (9/10/2018 update)
The dual dead ends of Middleton Street.  (9/10/2018 update)
Stricker's Pond footpath.  (9/11/2018 update)
Pheasant Branch Conservancy just north of Century and Branch.  (9/11/2018)
Confluence Pond expands to become Confluence Lake (and back again).  (9/12/2018 update)
Stricker's Pond.  (9/12/2018 update)