Researchers at a couple of Central Coast universities are teaming up to try to figure out why Watsonville’s Pinto Lake is inundated with toxic-algae every summer. A 125-thousand dollar grant from the state will fund the study of the blue-green algae. Researchers at U.C.S.C. will study the causes of the algae, while others at C.S.U.M.B. will study the lake’s drainage. The algae, called cyanobacteria, form in the lake every summer, and disappear in October as temperatures drop. The algae can be toxic to the human liver, and can disrupt aquatic ecosystems.
