Residents demonstrate for clean lake at Victoria Park in DeLand after animals found dead

What has been killing the fish, ducks and birds in a lake at DeLand's Victoria Park?

Residents aren't sure but the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is looking into the problem.

Raquel Levy, a personal injury attorney who runs Atlantic Law Center and lives in the development, said her two daughters were out collecting residents' signatures Wednesday on a petition demanding that the development's association address the issue.

Levy organized a gathering of residents by the lake in the Victoria Commons section Wednesday. The group met on the trail which surrounds the lake as walkers, joggers and dog-walkers passed by in the tree-lined community in DeLand. Residents held up signs saying "Ducks r cool" and "Clean water, we (heart) life."

“We need clean water; everything in this lake has been dying. We have dead hawks, dead ibis, we have dozens of ducks that have died,” Levy said. “This lake is a selling point of this community. Most people have purchased a home here because of the beautiful lake and now what used to be a beautiful lake has become a death pond.”

Levy's daughter, Bella Schwartz, said many people have been upset about the issue for a "long time," adding that they have all seen dead animals.

“We came to this demonstration to try to argue for compassion and clean water," said Bella. "We need to be more compassionate to the animals that live here, not just to be good people, because it all reconnects back to us.”

Levy's other daughter, Alexa Schwartz, said wildlife might not be the only ones in danger.

“Because all the water from the lake goes into our irrigation, it’s not only the animals surrounding the lake and in it but also if you have pets, too, such as dogs, ... if they walk on the grass here that was just treated by the water from the lake ... we could be in great harm," she said.

The two teenagers had gathered nearly 60 signatures by Wednesday afternoon.

The homeowners association could not be reached.

State regulators to check Victoria Park lake

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission received a report last week that about 20 dead fish had been seen in the lake as well as dead Muscovy and mallard ducks, a white ibis and a hawk, according to an email from Jonny Veach, a spokesman for commission.

Veach wrote that photos provided to the agency indicated a cyanobacteria, commonly referred to as a blue-green algae bloom.

“Since dead birds coinciding with a fish kill is unusual, FWC requested the FDEP to take a water sample,” Veach wrote.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is planning to take a sample, wrote Sarah Fayed, a spokeswoman for the agency in an email Thursday.

"We will be collecting samples from Victoria Lake following a request from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Currently, DEP is coordinating with the property owner to gain site access," Fayed wrote.

Dead ducks at Victoria Park lake

That is good news for residents, including Danniyille Viola, who said she spotted a dead duck recently while taking a morning walk around the lake and soon discovered more.

“It doesn’t appear to be violent,” Viola said about the animals' deaths. “It doesn’t appear to be like anything unnatural. It just steamrolled into this whole situation where I would come down to the lake and I just kept finding more and more death and decay.”

She said she found Muscovy ducks still alive, called around and finally found somebody willing to take a look at the ducks but the person could not save them.

She said probably about 22 Muscovy ducks had died along with a white ibis, a hawk and fish.

"It was just so disturbing to me to find them rotting, literally melting into the water," Viola said.

She still has a dead fish she carefully collected from the lake while wearing goggles and gloves stored in a freezer at home. She was hoping it could be necropsied but was told by the FWC that the frozen fish would not be useful for an examination.

She said the lake needs better care and maintenance. The water from the lake is also used for irrigation, she said.

"The care and maintenance isn't there," she said.

“This whole situation has just been so devastating,” Viola said.  “Yes, it's about the wildlife and the conservation, but it’s really about us paying more attention and taking care of our environment and thereby taking care of ourselves and giving more attention to the nature that we enjoy.”

Buildup in the Victoria Park lake

Another resident, Kirk Hall, said the lakes are fed with reclaimed water from the DeLand wastewater treatment plant and the phosphorous from the water has accumulated over time. He said "phosphorous loading" in the lakes has to be studied. He said they would like to discuss with the city some possible remediation strategies.

DeLand spokesman Chris Graham said that the city has not had any complaints or reports about dead ducks or fish at any other ponds receiving reclaimed water from the city. He said it appears that if anything is happening at the lake in Victoria Park it would be something specific to that area.

Graham said the pond was managed by the homeowner’s association and the city does not oversee it. He said the association could reach out to the city if it wished to discuss anything with the lake.

The residents say there are too many nutrients in the water.

"There's too much nutrient in the water and the nutrients are causing the algae blooms," Kirk Hall said.

"And the algae blooms are toxic," said his wife, Elizabeth Atlee Hall. "My concern is when you breath in the fumes, you can develop upper respiratory problems. It's a health concern, a health risk. We have animals dying around the lake. We just want our lake to be healthy."

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: DeLand lake reports dying fish, ducks, birds as residents worry