Drought Helps Lake Water Quality

Wisconsin State Journal:

The summer drought was good for one thing: It reduced the amount of manure and other phosphorus-laden material washing into area lakes.
That has eased the growth of ugly, smelly and even dangerous algae, weeds and green muck.
But long term, one drought doesn't change the dire need to reduce phosphorus levels in Mendota, Monona and the rest of the Yahara chain of lakes.
"I'm looking at Mendota now," lake expert Steve Carpenter said Thursday from his UW-Madison office. "It's windy and wavy, and it's looking pretty good."
But we're not going to have — nor would we want — a drought every year, Carpenter stressed. The extremely dry weather damaged crops, lawns and the economy.
"So what we want to do is find a way to improve the quality of the lakes without having a drought," said Carpenter, the director of the university's Center for Limnology.

Well, water quality has been pretty good this year in Grand Lake St. Mary's, so the drought may have helped out there, too.