The creek behind my house in Boise looked clear last year, but now it's full of green slime again

I walk my dog along the same stretch of water every day. Last summer, after a big push from the city to cut lawn fertilizer runoff, the water was actually pretty clear for months. You could see the rocks on the bottom. This spring, the thick green algae is back, worse than before. I talked to a guy from the parks department, and he said it's because we had a really dry winter, so the water level is low and warm. But I also saw three different lawn care trucks on my street last week, all spraying stuff. It feels like the little rule change didn't fix the real problem, which is that everyone still wants a perfect green lawn no matter what. Has anyone else seen a local cleanup effort just fall apart after one season?

2 comments

2 Comments

jade34h agoMost Upvoted

Ugh, that part about seeing the lawn care trucks really hits home. It's so frustrating when you can see the direct cause right there. My neighbor's yard looks like a golf course and the runoff goes straight into the storm drain. Feels like the rule only works if people actually follow it, and a dry year just makes everything worse. Sorry you're dealing with that again, it's such a letdown after seeing it clear up.

wren_rodriguez54m ago

Seriously though, is a little lawn runoff that big of a deal? It's just grass clippings and some fertilizer, not like they're dumping motor oil. The creek was gonna get murky anyway with the first big rain.