Hundreds of fish die in Lincoln Lake; neighbors demand action

LINCOLN, Nebraska (KLKN) – A lake in Lincoln full of dead fish is causing concern in the community.

Hundreds of fish died in Spring Lake near South Coddington Avenue and West A Street.

According to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, a resident of the lake reported seeing the fish gasping for air a few nights ago. The next morning, they were dead.

Neighbours are demanding action after waking up to a strong, fishy smell this weekend.

“Oh yeah, it’s bad,” said Sharon Wacker, who lives on the lake. “And the hotter it gets, the worse the smell gets.”

But Jan Carney, president of the Coddington Mill Homeowners Association, said there wasn’t much that could be done.

“I hate to see this as much as anyone,” she said. “I love living on this little lake and it breaks my heart when something like this happens. But I know it’s just part of nature and it happens.”

The perfect storm of lawn fertilizer, rain and calm winds caused the lake’s oxygen levels to drop to levels that were lethal to some fish.

“In Nebraska, fish kills are a regular occurrence,” Carney said. “All the lakes in the area have algal blooms that you can’t do anything about, and it’s a regular turning over of the lake.”

Carney has lived at Spring Lake for more than 30 years.

She said the homeowners association is doing its best to prevent these things from happening by installing aerators and conducting regular cleanings.

Carney can remember an even worse fish kill.

“About 20 years ago we had a big fish kill,” she said. “I mean, it was really bad. And back then we had to get rubble containers and big trucks to haul the fish away.”

Carney said the homeowners association discussed removing the fish this time, but it would have cost about $10,000.

So she did some research and decided to just let nature do its work.

“When something rots, there are naturally gases and swellings,” Carney said.

She said if too many fish are harmed during removal, the bacteria will enter the lake and cause an even bigger problem.

But Wacker also remembers the last fish kill.

And she believes that garbage containers must be provided again, even if this is costly.

“We have raccoons and opossums, but they won’t go into the middle of the lake, and I’m not sure they’ll eat dead animals,” Wacker said. “The association is supposed to take care of the public areas and the lake. That’s what we pay our dues for.”

Carney said the HOA is looking for ways to prevent this from happening in the future.