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	Podcast:		Local Features by WXPR
	Episode:		Fighting Phosphorus: Fish Kills, Aerators, And Oxygen On The Big Eau Pleine
	Category:		Government & Organizations
	Duration:		00:05:57
	Publish Date:		2020-03-12 06:13:00
	Description:		On Tuesday, Scott Blado found good news as he dipped scientific instruments below the ice on the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir in Marathon County. “Right now, we’re seeing [a reading of] 10.9 dissolved oxygen, which is fantastic. We couldn’t ask for anything better than that at this time of the year,” said Blado, an environmental specialist for the Wausau-based Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company (WVIC). Blado tests multiple points on the reservoir every week, and on Tuesday, he saw a significant jump from the week before. But getting enough dissolved oxygen, which is critical to aquatic life, can sometimes seem like an ongoing struggle on the 18-mile-long Big Eau Pleine. It has for years, and the associated effects have been striking. In the summer of 2008, the 7,000-acre reservoir turned the color of neon-green pea soup, a victim of a massive algae bloom. The next spring, thousands of dead fish washed up on shore, victims of depleted oxygen in the water. The bloom caused that depletion
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