Good news: You can spend your Labor Day on the lake with little worries about toxic algae. The lake appears to be recovering quickly from a record-long opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway.
"Were starting to see salinity starting to return more to a normal range, said Dr. John Lopez with the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. "We actually think it will be quicker this time."
Dr. Lopez says the lake is steadily returning to it's more brackish self. He says ever since the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet was closed, the lake is less salty to begin with, and more what it was like before the shipping channel was carved. That means it doesn't take as long to recover from spillway openings.
"The lake is a little fresher than when the MRGO opened so the return doesn't take as long," said Dr. Lopez.
Even though the lakes outlet's to the Gulf -- the Rigolets and Chef Pass -- aren't wide, but they are deep.
"Every time it comes in, it brings in a little more higher salinity water, and when it goes out, it's bringing out, you know, some of the mixed water," he said. "It's a pretty good pump to move the water in and out and that's just the normal, daily tides."