The zebra mussel infestation is altering lakes across eastern South Dakota, one of them being Lake Kampeska, a 5,250-acre lake near Watertown. The Lake Kampeska Water Project District Board met this month to address one of the infestation’s most challenging side effects: weeds. The meeting was well attended, according to The Watertown Current, one of its biggest ever.
Which says something about the severity of the problem. Zebra mussels feed off of plankton and algae. While that filters the water, it also permits more sunlight to penetrate deeper into lake bottoms. The weeds like that. Swimmers, anglers and boaters, not so much.
“The result has been an explosion in aquatic vegetation – both native and invasive plants – which negatively impacts recreation on the lake and keeps homeowners busy raking up huge amounts of weeds from their shorelines,” The Current reports.
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