Don't be Afraid of the Water- You Should Fear the Birds

                   A couple people have left comments about how safe the water is in Tempe Town Lake, so I thought I would take a post and describe some of the on-goings that occur in Tempe Town Lake that keep in clean and maintained.
          

Dead Fish

    To be clear, there is  a department within the City of Tempe that has the job of cleaning, maintaining, and watching over the lake - it is not my department. My job is not to ensure that all of the dead fish are taken out every time one floats up, and it is not my job to ensure that the water conditions are habitable. This job belongs to the Fish & Game department of Tempe (yes, Tempe has a Fish & Game department).  I see these people quite often on a day-to-day basis and they actually check the water conditions more than anything else. One of Tempe's biggest goals is to try and make the Lake sustainable for large fish and ecosystems to thrive in, but that is becoming more and more difficult because of all the events that take place on the lake.

Double-crested Cormormant

                 There are several types of fish that live in the lake, and most of them are warm-water fish so you will see a lot of dead fish in the winters. This is not because of bad water conditions, its simply because the lake isn't deep enough for them to stay warm and they are not equipped to handle the cold weather. There are also a couple types of birds that hang around the lake. I can almost promise you that none of these birds are wanting to be there. We have two Pelicans that were blown in from California or Mexico and have not been able to find their way home, we have a bald eagle that seems to have injured himself and stays around the lake because he cannot make the journey back to where he belongs, a couple Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets that can be seen in the summer, along with few ducks, one lonely lost Seagull,  and bane of my existence -we have a huge population of Double-crested Cormorant. Above is a picture of the Double-crested Cormorant. I want you to look long and hard at the big that makes my life hell on a daily basis.

          As you hopefully know by now, my job is to clean and maintain the facilities. Well the facilities include a dock that rowing shells, kayaks, and our stand up paddle boards launch off of for practice or classes. Well, the dock is apparently a prime place for this Double-crested Cormorant to hang out, and when birds hang out, they poop. And these guys poop a lot. So I have the joy of cleaning up after them every single day, and they just sit on the sea wall and laugh at me. 

               Moving on from the animals, the actual water conditions are not as bad as people think they are. The water color is disgusting and leads people to believe that the water itself is disgusting. While I am not supporting the idea of you to take a leisure swim around the lake, I am saying that if you fell in during Stand up Paddling or if your dog jumps in, you will not die. The water is maintained to ensure that if something bad happens (like you fall in) that you won't get Ring-worm or flesh eating bacteria. You guys need to remember that we are not in a third world country and every body of water has to have regulations that it adheres to. 

Tri-athletes swimming in the lake

               Now, in the situation that you are participating in the Tempe triatholon and you are worried about the water conditions for the swim portions PLEASE DO NOT BE AFRAID. The amount of chemicals they pump in to the lake weeks leading up the large events that involve people getting in to the water is unbelievable.  If it's not winter and you're seeing dead fish, you can go ahead and assume that there is event on its way in the next couple weeks because the chemicals being put in kill, literally, everything in the lake. 

          So, as long as you don't drink the water on purpose or are taking your afternoon 3 mile swim in the lake - you'll be OK if you come in contact with the water. Its a man-made lake/pond that is dammed on either ends. Its not going to look pretty and its going to collect trash but, rest assured that things do not die and you will not die because of the water conditions. However- you might get pooped on from the birds that the Devil created himself.