Restoring Lakes Using a Combination of Bacteria and Lake Aerator Technology

By Susan McCrossin

The Solution to Lake Pollution - Lake Restoration using a Lake Aerator System

As more and more people use lakes and live near ponds, more and more nutrients and sediments wash into watersheds and pollute lakes. Fertilizer, waste, and soil run-off wash into watersheds and ponds decreasing oxygen levels, increasing water temperature, algal blooms, weeds, harmful bacteria, nasty odors, and fish kills.

To achieve lake restoration, the lake must assimilate the nutrient load that it receives. It is possible to do this by reducing nutrient inputs, dredging muck out of the bottom of the pond where possible, and by using a series of pond aerator units and beneficial bacteria to accelerate the natural self-cleaning processes already in lakes by incorporating dissolved oxygen back into the water and allowing the bacteria to break down the pond muck.

A normal healthy lake cleans itself because the food chain of organisms in its ecosystem absorbs nutrients. All the way at the bottom of the pond food chain, beneficial aerobic bacteria eat nutrients. This self-cleaning mechanism in the pond works very well unless too many nutrients and pollution overwhelms the food chain. If this happens, the lake begins to die and algae and weeds take hold. Dead algae and weeds begin rotting on the bottom, adding even more nutrients back into the water. This depletes the oxygen at the bottom of the pond, and sets up the perfect environment for a new algae bloom in the dying pond.

The temptation in lake restoration is to apply a quick fix by adding chemicals and herbicides killing weeds quickly. The problem with this approach is that more rotting vegetation accumulates in the bottom of the pond, further depleting the oxygen levels. If enough of these chemicals are used, they can be toxic to fish.

Applying a Lake Aerator

An environmentally friendly and more effective method of Lake restoration is to increase dissolved oxygen levels so that nutrients decompose aerobically. Adding aerobic bacteria to the pond, accompanied by a several lake aerator units providing the necessary dissolved oxygen will successfully decompose the organic sediments and allow the pond to clean itself once again. Maintaining this oxygen rich lake environment will also reduce the amount of accumulated organic sediments. With aerobic conditions present at the bottom of the lake,the food chain is restored, and algae and weeds do not have a chance to escalate.

Sue McCrossin is a freelance writer working with CLEAN-FLO to inform people about how a lake aerator system can be an environmentally sound way of reducing lake weeds, toxins and hence improve water quality.

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