Fertilizer theory adds to algae-covered pond mystery

It's been almost three years and about 300 columns since The Warrior visited with Rick Jewell, but I can't forget those floating softballs.

Dozens of them, floating in the algae muck that covers the drainage pond-lake behind his home near Shore Drive. They came from the ball fields across the drink from Jewell. So dense is the muck, wayward softballs end up suspended in a sort of purgatory.

In a November 2005 column, a city storm-water engineer said the algae is a product of fertilizer that residents use on their lawns. It washes into the drainage pond, the city said, feeding the algae.

With many such drainage ponds in the city, the Beach said, it doesn't get into the algae-killing business.

End of story, it seemed. But Jewell just introduced an interesting wrinkle.

"I questioned the five residents, and no one fertilizes their lawns," Jewell wrote. "I then investigated to find out that the city fertilizes the softball fields on the other side of the lake twice a year. Residents who have lived here for years say the problem didn't exist until the ball fields were built."

Landscape management operations coordinator Frank L. Fentress said the city doesn't fertilize the fields. "Sometimes community sports leagues apply fertilizer," he said. "But we do not even think that is the case with these fields."

Fentress said the city recently started to apply chemicals in ponds at major city parks, including the pond behind Jewell's home.

It's a pilot program, and he said the algae is more under control since the application.

Further, the city's mosquito control division dispatched a crew Monday and said testing found no mosquito breeding activity.

Good news for Ghent. When Norfolk increased its citywide sweeping schedule to monthly on July 1, the schedule in Ghent was changed to 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. one day each month.

Used to be, the parking restrictions that accompany the Ghent sweep didn't start until 11 a.m. Readers said a 7 a.m. start suits no one.

A flood of letters to The Warrior followed, pleading with the city to institute a more day-shift-friendly start time.

The Warrior asked the city to revisit the schedule.

On Aug. 8, Norfolk sent a letter to civic leagues seeking their input.

On Monday, Public Works spokeswoman Pam Marino told The Warrior: "The Storm Water division will re-examine the street sweeping schedule, adjusting the hours to meet both the operational requirements needed to effectively complete the job and to meet residents' needs given the parking constraints in their neighborhoods."

I'll let you know what the city comes up with.

Lanes are now lined On Aug. 5, The Warrior wrote of the there-only-in-spirit line markers at a busy exit from the Little Creek East shopping center in Norfolk.

Reader Susan Van Tiem said drivers aren't aware there are two lanes at the location, which leads to near-misses and worse.

Global Real Estate, the manager/owner of the shopping center, told the city it would remark the lanes.

This week, Van Tiem wrote The Warrior and said: "The work was completed, and it looks very good. The road is now clearly marked, and the dangerous situation I had described should not happen again."