The need to protect water quality, recreation and water supply storage at Milford Lake was the focus of Thursday nights State of the Lake 2013 meeting in Wakefield.

Excessive nutrient levels at Milford Lake is the cause of blue green algae blooms in the lake.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment gave a summary of water quality monitoring and a blue-green algae study during the meeting. Tom Stiles, Watershed Planning, Monitoring and Assessment section Chief with KDHE, said that excess nutrients within the lake is the number one cause for the blue-green algae booms.

Stiles went over ways to that excess nutrients can be prevented from entering the lake through it’s watershed,” You can do it by the appropriate land management practices and the inputs of nutrients that you put on the land, soil testing to make sure you’re putting on the appropriate amount and not overloading the land.”

He also mentioned that cities within the lakes watershed can put in technology that can reduce the nutrients coming out of it’s waste water.

K-State Research and Extension has been implementing a watershed restoration and protection strategy that works with primarily farmers within the watershed implementing proper land management to reduce erosion and nutrient run off into tributaries that flow into the lake. The WRAPS program has completed 111 projects within the watershed and has only covered about ten percent of the watershed.

Josh Roe with K-State Research and Extension and focus’ on the WRAPS program said it is a very small percentage of the watershed,” But that’s part of the overall goal as well is to really target these practices where we get the most bang for you’re buck.”

The WRAPS program so far has seen success but on a very small scale according to Robert Wilson, also with K-State Research and Extension working with the WRAPS program, “We know that changes in water quality, there not going to change or improve significantly in many cases for ten years or more.”

This past summer Milford Lake only had a few times when it was placed under an advisory or warning for blue-green algae. RJ Harms, Project Manager for the Corps of Engineers at Milford Lake contributed the weather as the reason. ” Fortunately we had a pretty nice cool summer up until late July and early August. We did have some rain there late summer that I think help keep some of those conditions down.”

Approximately 30 people attended the State of the Lake Thursday night.