In the same way that when you kill off algae, the biomass doesn’t vanish, it sinks into the sediment and accumulates, so it is with the copper from algaecides – it doesn’t just disappear. It accumulates in the lake’s sediment, year after year, creating a toxic legacy that lasts.

There are documented cases where this copper accumulation has become so severe that homeowners who wanted to dredge their coves to restore boat access were denied permits because the copper levels in the muck were too high for safe disposal.

The sediment was classified as hazardous waste because of the high levels of heavy metals – specifically copper – that it contained. Their lakefront property effectively became a shoreline on a toxic dump.

And because this copper-laced mud is toxic, it kills the bottom-dwelling animal life that consume organic matter in the sediment and are the foundation of a healthy food web, so even more dead carcases pile up in the toxic sludge.

You can’t bring your lake back to life by killing things.
More algaecide, more copper in the sediment, more death and destruction, more resistant super-cyanobacteria in your lake, more algaecide.