MetaChat - bleh. i hate it when the lake turns over

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27 September 2006

bleh. i hate it when the lake turns over →[More:]

I will be so glad when the water goes back to normal. It has tasted like shit for a couple of weeks now because it is the wonderful time of year when the lake turns over. I don't know what it is that makes it taste so horrific, but the Brita filter in my water pitcher does not eliminate it. It does get rid of the strong chlorine taste which is really bad in summer, so I wonder why it does nothing for this. I wonder what in particular is in the bottom of the lake that causes this bad taste which apparently doesn't get filtered out by the city or my Brita filter.

post by: weretable and the undead chairs at: 15:56 | 13 comments

Freshwater Cthulhu

posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson 27 September | 16:16

when the lake turns over

Holy shit wheretable! that sounds downright apocalyptic! What exactly does that mean, "turn over"?

posted by pieisexactlythree 27 September | 16:19

Don't know which lake he is refering to, but all lakes cycle their water as the top layers heat and/or cool. I live on Lake Superior and our cycle is veryyyyy long, smaller lakes are much faster

posted by edgeways 27 September | 17:21

He lives in, like, Oklahoma or Arkansas or something, right? I've never heard of this phenomenon. Go figure. Science, what a concept.

posted by matildaben 27 September | 17:38

Much scarier is when the layers of lake water don't turn over or mix and gases build up... there have been carbon monoxide deaths due to meromictic lakes (used to live in Syracuse some time ago, and visited Green Lake often). When I was there, the neighborhoods around Green Lake were all prepared for it to belch poisonous fumes... nature is so very strange.

posted by vers 27 September | 18:04

(should add... the lake wasn't meromictic because of my proximity, and so far as I know, there is still a danger there.)

posted by vers 27 September | 18:06

I had never heard of meromictic lakes before now. That's really cool! Not if it erupts while you're there of course, but cool nontheless. I really had no idea that lakes cycle water, simple because I never thought about it before. Neat post.

posted by redvixen 27 September | 18:26

I'm feeling a bit meromictic myself, at the moment, to be honest.

posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson 27 September | 18:33

*steps cautiously away from ItsRainingFlorenceHenderson*

posted by redvixen 27 September | 18:54

blurp.

beaver lake. northwest arkansas.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 27 September | 18:56

Funny... a year ago today on the BBC.

Just when you think it's safe to go back in the water...

... sidles away from IRFH.

posted by vers 27 September | 19:06

Oh man, we kayak in a lake here that turns over, and it's so vile, especially if you aren't aware of what's going on -- the lake stinks like a sewer (but you don't really notice it until you're right in the middle, at which point it's devastating), and afterwards the boat is coated in green stuff, which also stinks and has to be scrubbed off in a long stinky process of destinkification.

I also had never heard of the phenomenon until this year, when I was out with an experienced kayaker and said "jesus, the lake reeks like a dead rotting dog" and he said "yeah, it's turning over." I nodded sagely as if I had a clue.

posted by Berlin 28 September | 14:51

I read last year that it was the result of microorganisms in the water reproducing. So, basically, it's the spooge of tiny critters.

And yeah, I actually buy water when it gets bad.

posted by lilywing13 28 September | 23:46

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