Name:   dogleg - Subject:   water quality / algae? Date:   9/20/2016 7:18:24 PM

We have been on this formerly very clear lake since 1962. For the last several years, water clarity has gradually but steadily decreased, algae has increased and, in our immediate water, what was a rocky bottom has silted over with the decayed remnants of that algae. Where we once could bump a Jelly worm with a lead head along the rocky bottom and have it come out clean, now results in a gob of yuck on the end of your line. Up until the late 1980s, there was considerable undeveloped lake front property, a fact proudly held high by APC and Russel Lands. Also, most of the developed lakefront property was essentially a cabin on a wooded or minimally landscaped lot. All that changed, it seemed to me, when, after three or four years of multiple hurricane strikes on Florida, many who were set to obtain a vacation or retirement abode at the beach, decided inland water was safer. Several "retirement" publications discussed this and some even listed Lake Martin as the number one destination for those not wanting to risk a beach front situation. Property values skyrocketed, formerly well intentioned stewards of the lake, APC/RL, felt a stronger need to cash in, undeveloped lakefront property was developed, the economy was good and McMansions with large turf lawns began to sprout everywhere, and previously prevented multi-family dwellings, condominiums, began to be allowed, yadda Yadda. Fertilizer runoff I suspect is a culprit in much of the increase in turbidity and algae growth. But this type of development has also led to issues such as increased boat traffic, light pollution, and noise pollution, all of which I find more onerous than the algae. Don't get me wrong, I'm not being curmudgeonly. We tore our old cabin down and built a full blown house with grass a few years ago to accommodate our family's growth (but we do watch the lights, noise and fertilizer). And we still have a beautiful lake that is one of the cleanest in the southeast.