MADISON, WI (SPECTRUM NEWS) — Dane County is piloting a new technology to combat algae blooms.

Blue-green algae blooms are common on lakes in Wisconsin during the summer. The new technology works like a vacuum, sucking up water and filtering out algae and decaying plants.

“So that when we have algae blooms we can come in now and we can suck those in and filter it out and clean up the area,” said Joe Parisi, Dane County Executive.

Previous efforts have focused on preventing algae, doing things like removing phosphorus sources — which cause algae blooms — from the water, or “blue water barges” that block off areas of beaches from surface algae floating in while filtering the water underneath. Those methods aren't 100 percent effective, and removing algae that shows is another way of addressing the problem.

“So we're doing a lot on the front end and the preventative side, but we're also working on the surface areas to make sure that while we're cleaning up the source that people can still access our lakes,” Parisi said.

Dane County employees developed the new method and technology. This is the first summer they are using it.

“We've been developing these for several years and keep enhancing in our knowledge and keep growing, so making it better for the people,” said John Reimer, assistant director of the Dane County Land and Water Resources Department.

Parisi said Dane County is the first in the nation taking these steps. He encourages any communities interested in learning more or adopting it to reach out to the county.

“Anyone out there in any other community who wants to know anything about our technology, we want to share this with you because we want to help other folks too,” Parisi said.

Parisi allocated $20,000 to the 2018 budget for this project.