Anyone who has recently been near Anderson Lake will have noticed its green hue and cloudiness. As a result of low water levels and summer heat, the algae growth has been increasingly higher. The low water levels combined with low water movement has caused increasing levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and less oxygen. This provides the perfect environment for algae to grow, leading to fewer people using the lake for recreation.
According to Mayor Gordon Barnhart, Town Council was originally looking into a windmill or water fountain to aerate the lake but they were told that beyond looking nice on the lake, neither would do much to help with the algae problem.
Town Council is currently looking into other options for controlling the algae. Last week, two university students took a water sample from the lake with the hopes of being able to provide some solutions to the problem. Robert Morgan has also been researching a pumping system that would pump and circulate oxygen in the lake. Gordon Barnhart says that while there are no quick fixes for the problem, Town Council is actively searching for solutions with the hopes of improving water quality enough to make it more pleasant for swimming and water sports as well as attracting more water fowl to the lake.
Stephen Farquharson grew up in Saltcoats and has many fond memories of the lake. “Anderson Lake once was a focal point of summers in Saltcoats. Starting in early June, many of the kids from town made biking across the lake and going for a swim part of most evenings’ activities. 10-15 people swimming and using the diving stand was pretty common. Come July, the Red Cross Swimming Lessons would happen. Sometimes they went for 2 weeks, and sometimes 3 weeks. At the high point there were just over 200 kids taking lessons at the Regional Park with 2 qualified instructors hired. Many of us were able to take lessons right through to our Bronze Medallion, which at that point allowed you to life-guard at beaches or pools in the area,” he says.
“The lake was also busy with a couple motor boats pulling skiers. We used to go over to the Westberg’s, and Al would often spend hours taking his kids and the neighbour kids out skiing. It was a terrific lake for young kids learning to ski! And of course there were often a few canoers out on the water, enjoying going for a paddle and doing some bird watching along the shore.”
“There were some exciting events held too,” says Stephen. “The bathtub races on July 1st were a lot of fun. Probably about half of the entrants didn’t manage to finish the race; the point was to get together and have some fun. I remember in particular one bathtub (I think it was made by Don Wiley), called the ‘Miasis Dragon’! I also remember Elmer Dickson trying to get a bathtub ready for the race, but he sank it in front of my Dad’s place. There was only about 2 feet of water there, so it looked like Elmer was just standing in the middle of the lake having a cigarette! I took my canoe out and rescued him but he never got the tub ‘sea-worthy’ enough to enter the race!”
“July first wasn’t just the ball games, we also had Louis Riel Races, which were relay races where we passed a weighted backpack instead of a baton. There were several legs to the race including horseback riders, runners on roads, a run through the bush, and a canoeing leg that went most of the length of the lake.”
Upon hearing about Council’s plans to revitalize the lake, Stephen is excited to think of all of the possibilities for bringing some of these activities and events that were so central to the community back to Saltcoats. “So much of what we go to other places to enjoy, we actually have right in our community. When I hear there are possibilities to revitalize the lake, I don’t think there are many projects that would have a bigger impact on our quality of life in town than that!”