Algae explosion on the north shore of Lake Starnberg: What's behind it
Created: 06/22/2022, 17:00
By: Laura Forster
Luca Herrmann and his colleagues have been fishing algae out of the water from the seaside resort in Starnberg for days.
The warm temperatures and low water levels encourage plant growth.
© andrea jaksch
Last weekend, temperatures rose to over 30 degrees for the first time this year, and it will stay warm for the next few days.
If you want to cool off in the lake in Starnberg, however, you have to be prepared for green aquatic plants.
Because algae also like the current climate.
Starnberg/district - Jesco Ringwald, deputy operations manager of the seaside resort in Starnberg, was on the boat for six hours on Sunday, at 33 degrees.
"I fished four to five wheelbarrows of algae out of Lake Starnberg with a net," he says in an interview with Starnberger Merkur.
The aquatic plants are currently blooming particularly strongly on the northern shore of the lake - to the chagrin of the bathers.
"The 2,300 or so guests on Sunday felt much better after I removed the algae." Ringwald was even asked whether the seaweed was dangerous.
However, the deputy manager was able to answer the question in the negative with a clear conscience.
"These are completely harmless plants." So that the algae don't accumulate in the water, Rindwald has opened the floating poles that separate the lake resort from the rest of the lake.
Nevertheless, two complaints were received by the bathroom on Monday.
“We explained the situation in an e-mail and asked for your understanding.
We can't react as quickly as the algae come to the surface," says Ringwald.
However, he assumes a temporary problem, because algae in Lake Starnberg are nothing unusual.
Almost every year the seaside resort has to struggle with flowering aquatic plants in summer.
“They usually go away after two to three weeks.
I'm not an expert though.
But this time there are a lot of them,” says Ringwald.
He suspects a connection with the low water level and the high water temperature.
"Algae like both, so they can grow faster and better."
Algae are not only found in Lake Starnberg at the moment.
"Even in smaller lakes and still waters, aquatic plants are blooming right now," says Dr.
Andreas Kolbinger, deputy head of the water management office in Weilheim.
"The climate of the past few days has favored the growth of algae and aquatic plants." Last Sunday, 25.4 degrees were measured in Lake Starnberg.
"That's a very high value," says Kolbinger.
However, the deputy head of the authorities assumes that the algae problem will be solved as soon as it gets a little cooler in the Fünfseenland.
High temperature, low water level, lots of algae
In addition to the high temperature, the low water level, as Rindwald already suspected, is responsible for an increased occurrence of algae in the lake.
At the moment the level near the district office is 57 centimeters.
The flood warning level is reached at a value of 122 centimeters - so there is still a lot of space in the lake.
However, according to Andreas Kolbinger, the lake's low water level is not a cause for concern.
"The level depends on the season," he says.
"This is not an exceptional situation.
The water level has even been rising again since May.” Since Lake Starnberg has only a few inflows, it takes a little longer, according to Kolbinger, for the level to rise again.
"With the current temperatures, the precipitation of the past few months is evaporating faster."
In general, Lake Starnberg and the other bodies of water in the district are in “very good ecological condition,” says Kolbinger.
Neither cercaria nor other larvae or bacteria have been found in the water so far.
However, if you don't like swimming with water plants, but still want to cool off in Lake Starnberg in the coming days, you can switch to the shores in Feldafing or Tutzing.
These places have been spared from the algae problem.
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You can find more current news from the district of Starnberg at Merkur.de/Starnberg.