ST. LOUIS (First Alert 4) — Nearly three months after a toxic bacteria was discovered in a pond at a St. Charles County dog park, county officials have made the decision to remove the water feature entirely.
Broemmelsiek Park offers an off-leash dog park area that spans nearly five acres and for the last 17 years, has offered a small acre-sized pond for dogs to enjoy. Earlier this summer, county officials detected toxic blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, in the water. The park was indefinitely closed because the bacteria can be deadly to animals.
“It’s been a reoccurring problem here in the park,” said Ryan Graham, director of St. Charles County Parks. “Sometimes it’s closed a week, sometimes, like this year, it’s been closed three months. But it seems like every year we have an issue.”
Graham said the county has tried several mitigation efforts that have failed in the past few years.
“A couple of years ago we tried to use a pet safe dye to help provide to some shade to the water, we’ve had aeration in the lake and all these methods didn’t work,” he said. “Unfortunately, this bacteria is naturally occurring, so it’s going to happen.”
As a result, Graham said the county decided its best course of action was to remove the pond. Within the last few weeks, crews have drained the pond and are now working to remove years worth of mud and buildup, Graham said, before filling it back in and planting grass.
The closure has forced many St. Charles County dog owners, who enjoyed the water feature of the park, to explore other dog parks and trails.
“He likes to walk in it, but he loves chasing a ball into it, he likes the diving board to jump off of it and into the water to get the ball,” said Jamie Kelly about her dog, Red. “But I can see their side of wanting to close it for health reasons. I’m a paranoid dog mom, so I probably wouldn’t have taken him back if they had just tried to clean it up.”
The pond was the only water feature at a dog park county-wide, but Graham said it will hopefully be replaced by a much larger, 10-acre lake sitting on a piece of property within the Park at New Melle Lakes.
The piece of land, donated by the Wolk family, will be home to a new dog park set to open in 2025, Graham said. While the county is still in the preliminary phases, the closure of the pond at Broemmelsiek Park prompted the county to get serious about the plan.
“When we decided to shut down this water feature, we thought we really need to get moving on the new dog park,” he said. “With it being much bigger and much deeper and not being an impounded body of water, we’re hopeful the presence of the bacteria would decrease at that location.”
Broemmelsiek Park’s off-leash dog area remains open, despite construction, offering several acres of grassy areas for dogs. To see a full list of the county’s dog parks and to check if they’re open visit the county’s rainout line.
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