DATE: Tuesday, July 15, 1997                TAG: 9707150124

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:  121 lines

HAMPTON ROADS [BRIEFS]

VIRGINIA BEACH

``Space aliens''

confound, worry

lakeside residents

``A big Kleenex box of jelly'' was Leona Shuler's description of the strange creatures that she found floating in Lake Trant in front of her home last week.

``Space aliens'' is how Bob Goodwin characterized the big jellyfish-like blobs that also showed up around his dock in Lake Wolf-snare recently.

So Goodwin's wife, Bert Goodwin, called Old Dominion University, where biology professor Harold Marshall solved the mystery of space aliens in Virginia Beach lakes.

``Bryozoans'' is what Marshall called the invaders.

No kin to jellyfish in the Chesapeake Bay, these animals are in the phylum Bryozoa, a group of simple invertebrates. They don't sting and aren't poisonous, but they do grow big - very big - in warm summer months when water quality conditions are right.

Increased nutrients in the water from fertilizer runoff that promote algae growth also promote the bryozoans to rapidly enlarge.

``We were afraid they would fill up the whole end of the lake,'' Goodwin said.

But Goodwin soon found out the bryozoans dissolve readily, too. The creatures began disappearing after the civic league treated the algae in the water with a chemical.

CHESAPEAKE

City officials recommend

residents conserve water

City Council has recommended that Chesapeake residents follow voluntary water conservation because of the summer's dry weather.

City Council voted July 8 to adopt the Water Conservation Ordinance, which empowers the city manager to order water restrictions or other emergency measures, city spokesman Mark Cox said.

City officials recommend these guidelines to conserve water:

Reduce outdoor water use.

Install water-saving shower heads.

Do not use the toilet as a substitute for a trash can.

Keep a bottle of cold water in the refrigerator rather than run the tap until the water cools.

Wash only full loads in the dishwater or washing machine.

Place mulch around shrubs to conserve moisture.

Wash vehicles at commercial car washes that reuse water.

Chesapeake needs to conserve water to reduce the impact of water withdrawals on the Northwest River, which is susceptible to elevated chloride levels in dry weather, Cox said.

For details, call the Public Utilities Department at 382-6356. Residents also may call the city's automated information system, Answerline, at 382-8888, then press 191 for water conservation ideas.

Damuth relocates, will bring jobs, training opportunities

Damuth Services Inc., an air conditioning systems provider formerly based in Virginia Beach, broke ground Monday in Chesapeake for a 50,000-square-foot facility that will employ 85.

The facility, a coup for Chesapeake, will place all of Damuth's departments under one roof and triple the technical training offered by the company. The facility will be in the city's Cavalier Industrial Park and should be completed by the start of 1998.

The company provides commercial and industrial air conditioning equipment, service, building automation controls, parts and supplies. It is a franchise of the Trane Co., one of the largest manufacturers of air conditioning systems.

ALSO. . .

Portsmouth - A Hail and Farewell Reception honoring some of Portsmouth's military brass will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday at the Elizabeth Manor Country Club.

The honored guests will be Vice Adm. Roger T. Rufe Jr., the new commander of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area, U.S. Maritime Defense Zone Atlantic and the Fifth District; Capt. William R. Klemm, departing commander of the Naval Shipyard; and Capt. Timothy E. Scheib, operations officer of the shipyard who will become the commanding officer.

The reception will be hosted by the Armed Forces Committee of the Portsmouth Division, Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.

COMING UP

TODAY

Norfolk - Norfolk Partners in Prevention Coalition is sponsoring an ``Initiative on Non-marital Childbearing'' from 7 to 9 p.m. The program is part of the local planning process for developing community strategies to address teen pregnancy and non-marital births. It will be in the Cape Henry North Room in Old Dominion University's Webb Center. For more information, call 683-2796.

Hampton - Anthony Spear, manager of the Mars Pathfinder project, is scheduled to discuss the development of the spacecraft at NASA Langley H.J.E. Reid Conference Center at 2 p.m.

THURSDAY

Norfolk - The Five Points Partnership and the East Norview Block Watch will have an open meeting at 7 p.m. at Norview Elementary School. The meeting will explain what the Five Points Partnership is and how it effects the surrounding areas of Coronado/Inglenook, Green Hill Farms, Sewells Gardens, Norfolk Gardens, Norview, East Norview, Shadywood, Brandon Place, Elmhurst and Greenwood.

SATURDAY

Hampton - NASA Langley Research Center holds an open house to celebrate its 80th anniversary, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Norfolk - The Five Points Partnership will sponsor ``A Walk for Safety'' at 7 p.m. at the Norview Recreation Center. The walk will be from the recreation center to Norview Middle School and back. Children at the recreation center will make signs to carry on the walk. For more information, call Bev Sell at 857-1794. MEMO: Staff writers Liz Szabo, Mary Reid Barrow, Ida Kay Jordan and Mac

Daniel contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW

This bryozoan was pulled out of Lake Wolfsnare in Virginia Beach.

The jellyfish-like animal, which is clear in color, looks green

because of algae in the water. The odd-looking bryozoans had some

lakeside residents concerned; Bob Goodwin thought the ``space

aliens'' were going to fill up the lake. But chemicals used to treat

the algae also dissolved the bryozoans.

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