Residents in Lake Crystal are getting used to seeing graduate students file out of a dusty blue state van, take kayaks to the lakes and drop lines into the water.

They’re not after game fish, but fishing for answers to a serious problem with thick blue-green algae blooms.

Minnesota State University, under contract with state pollution officials, is spending the spring and summer testing water on Loon, Mills and Crystal lakes as well as a ditch responsible for bringing some of the nutrients into the lakes.

Scott Bohling, a water quality analyst with the MSU Water Resources Center, said the information is a Total Maximum Daily Load study. Federal law requires all states to do TMDL studies of all rivers and lakes and then prepare plans to improve those that exceed standards.”

“We’re looking at excess nutrients — phosphorus and nitrogen levels — and looking at why the waters are so green in the summer,” Bohling said.

While many southern Minnesota lakes get algae blooms in hot weather, the Lake Crystal lakes have had severe problems and have been the focus of state and environmental groups for years.

The blooms occur when hot weather produces rapid algae growth that is spurred by excess phosphorus and nitrogen, which come from a variety of sources, including fertilizer, erosion, faulty septic systems, animal waste and urban runoff.

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