Page 18 - Mar-Apr19 Vol36 No7

KNOXVILLE Provided by City of Knoxville
Truckloads of Invasive Weeds
Pulled from Fountain City Lake

Weed trimming season is usually over for most people by A look at the impact of the non-native, invasive weeds prior to the removal effort.
late fall, but heaps of invasive aquatic weeds were pulled from
the City of Knoxville’s Fountain City Lake in early December. Three truckloads of invasive weeds originating from personal aquariums were
removed from Fountain City Lake.
The weeds had spread rapidly and were covering a large
portion of the water’s surface. The water of the lake was lowered to install native plants in the wetland area.

The source of those weeds? Believe it or not, it’s from
citizens dumping the contents of their personal aquariums
into the beloved Fountain City Lake. The lake is not owned by
the City of Knoxville, but the City works collaboratively with
the Lions Club, who has maintained the lake since the 1950s,
and other community stakeholders to maintain it.

Non-native aquatic plants like parrot’s feather grass and
other watermilfoil plants originating from other continents
are sold in local pet stores in the United States to beautify
aquariums, but are invasive and can wreak havoc when
unleashed into local water systems.

In fact, when the water was recently drained down to
mitigate the algae problem at Fountain City Lake, a rainbow
assortment of aquarium gravel colors was discovered.

“People may have the intent of giving their aquarium
inhabitants a chance at life, but the reality is the fish and
amphibians have almost no chance of survival, while the
exotic plants are going to overtake native vegetation that
serve a vital purpose in our waterways’ ecosystems,” said
David Hagerman, Stormwater Engineer for the City of
Knoxville.

“Fountain City Lake is giving us a concentrated look at the
level of damage a few little invasive plants can cause.”

Inmates participating in the Knox County Sheriff
Department’s Work Release program spent two full days
working on the lake during the first week of December. The
pile of dead weeds yanked out of the 1-acre lake amounted to
about three truckloads.

The City also added a treatment for the invasive weeds as
well as 25 grass carp to feed on the plants.

With the help of slow-growth winter temperatures, officials
are optimistic that these efforts will slow and eventually
eliminate the unwanted vegetation.

The water had been lowered so that contractors could finish
plantings for a wetland area designed to help with Fountain
City Lake’s recent algae issues caused by overfeeding of the
lake’s duck and goose inhabitants.

“Restoring Fountain City Lake to better health and beauty
has required persistent effort and a lot of patience,” City of
Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero said. “But we knew from
the beginning it would take time to correct problems that were
decades in the making.”

The City’s $750,000 lake restoration project started in fall
2014.

For years, thick algae had overwhelmed the lake. The City’s
aim had been to repair the lake’s infrastructure, so that the

18 TPW March/April 2019