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Aquatic Plants
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 Algae are microscopic plants that live in the surface waters of the lakes. They are usually in very small numbers and thus not visible to the human eye. But when there is lots of sunshine and food (dissolved nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous) they can reproduce very quickly and grow to such large numbers that we can see them in the water. Blooms like this one in Lake Sammamish in August 1996 occur every summer, but blooms may be occurring more frequently as concentrations of nutrients in the lakes increase.
Blooms of green algae occasionally occur in the major lakes. Read about why these blooms occur and what the significance is.
Blooms of toxic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) occasionally occur in the major lakes. Read about why these blooms occur and how they affect human health.Read about the current cyanobacteria bloom in Lake Washington (11/21/2007)
Read an archived article about a cyanobacteria bloom in Lake Sammamish
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