As part of efforts to improve water quality in the area, the City of Wilmington has restocked Greenfield Lake with 560 sterile grass carp.
According to the city, the fish eat underwater vegetation and weeds, which helps control the algae growth in the lake. The algae is a result of the polluted stormwater runoff that flows into the body of water from the 2,500-acre Greenfield Lake watershed. Much of that area includes parking lots and paved roads where water can’t seep into the ground, and the pollution flowing into the lake includes animal and yard waste and fertilizers.
The city has used the sterile carp to help clean the lake for more than 10 years. Other methods used to address the algae problem include an aeration system that circulates the water to help reduce what the city describes as the “unsightly algae.”
