SPOKANE, Wash. — The Mirror Pond in Manito Park has had issues with green, unhealthy water. In fall 2019 and spring 2020, the City of Spokane tackled the problem by doing major renovations to the pond.
The Parks and Recreation Department said those renovations cleared up the initial problem of algae, which was causing the green tint. But now, a new problem is causing the pond to be green.
Nick Hamad, a Landscape Architect with Parks and Recreation, said a water weed has taken over the pond floor.
“What we believe with talking with fish and wildlife and the department of ecology is that actually the pond weed, amongst others, have come in...with waterfowl and that’s pretty common,” Hamad said.
He also said the seeds could have been stirred up during the initial renovation process.
Even though these weeds are an issue, Hamad said the pond is much healthier than it was this time last year. He said they are about 95% finished with getting the pond completely healthy again.
In order to finish the last 5% of work and fix the new weed problem, the city has groups of volunteers physically weeding the pond every week. From there, the parks department will try to naturally control the weeds by adding fish that will eat them.
As a last resort, the city is considering using a non-toxic weed killer if necessary.
Hamad said he is hoping residents will be patient as they work to fix this new problem. He also asked that people stay out of the water and not feed the ducks.