Unfortunately, it appears that this company has missed out on...

Unfortunately, it appears that this company has missed out on one of those German projects that had been mentioned in media reports from that country earlier this year.

On the weekend, one report noted that the German city of Magdeburg has given the green light to treat the Barleber lake with aluminium sulphate:

The city of Magdeburg wants to save the Barleber lake and let cleanse for more than 1 million euros the lake with 1250 tons of aluminum sulfate.

The timetable is tight, which the City of Magdeburg has set for the renovation of Barleber Lake. In order to be able to fulfill the stated citizens' wish of an algae-free lake for the bathing season 2019, all necessary measures should be initiated as soon as possible in the next few months...

What is particularly disappointing about this decision, is that it is clear that some of the locals weren't too keen on the alum. If you look at the initial article that reported on the plans to treat the Barleber lake back in July, one of the comments posted in response to the article seemed quite hostile to the idea:

...Please tell the readership how they want to get a grip on the problem with the overfertilisation of the Barleber Lake without having to make a sewage treatment plant out of the lake! The senseless introduction of large amounts of aluminum sulfates would provide a short bathing fun, but damage the lake in the long run...

It does appear that the decision to treat the lake with alum goes against the wishes of at least some of the locals.

This does make me wonder if perhaps the company should look to employing some targeted advertising, aimed at regions that have been impacted by major outbreaks of blue-green algae, with the aim of making it clear to these communities that an alternative to alum is available, and drawing attention to the potential problems with alum.

The one positive here is that article noted that the algae prevention measures needed to be implemented within 'the next few months' if they hope to prevent a return of the algae in the new year.  At the moment, I suspect there would be a large number of German councils looking to implement anti-algae treatment measures, and so assuming that some do decide to opt for Phoslock, you'd expect that we would probably be hearing about it soon.