Staff writer
Marion County Commission approved a burn ban Monday that will stay in effect until this coming Tuesday.
Marion County Emergency Management Director Dan D’Albini said Marion County Fire Chiefs had reached an agreement about the dry and hot conditions requiring a ban on burning in the County.
Health Department Director Diedre Serene said temperatures were predicted to reach 110 degrees by the weekend.
Commission Chairman Dan Holub still wanted to make the proclamation for the ban with the condition that it could be repealed before the next commission meeting if there is rainfall. Holub relented after Roger Fleming and Randy Dallke agreed that the ban was necessary to prevent further fires with fields of ready tinder. Dallke said even some soybeans are starting to brown.
“Surely they can wait eight days,” Fleming said.
Algae
Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy Coordinator Peggy Blackman was concerned with the continued presence of blue-green algae in Marion Reservoir.
She said the reservoir is still under a warning from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Blackman was frustrated that weather has quickened the development of algae in the reservoir. The constant dry heat and low wind have been the ideal conditions for algae blooms.
Blackman said the group’s next step will be analyzing the water in the reservoir. The result of that study, conducted by Kansas State University professor Philip Barnes, may be to remove bottom feeding fish from the lake.