What’s green and slimy, smells like sewage, and ruins vacations? Excessive algae piling up on Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan shores, that’s what. It’s called Cladophora, and it blunts tourism spending, lowers property values, and clogs industrial water intake pipes. The costs add up to millions of dollars each year.

Find out more in a new video from Wisconsin Sea Grant. The 18-minute video features interviews with beachgoers, lakeshore property owners and coastal residents about the problem, and it turns to biologist Harvey Bootsma of the UW Great Lakes WATER Institute for an explanation of the science behind the stink. Also included is a eight-minute version, for those in a hurry.

Both versions of the video – and more information on algae in Lake Michigan – can be found at UW Sea Grant’s Water Quality web page. Free DVDs of the video can be ordered at the UW Aquatic Sciences Center’s online publication store.