Rotarians learn about water quality in Grand
Lake St Marys
Brian Miller, Assistant Park Manager of Grand
Lake
St Marys visited the NB NK Rotary to discuss the efforts being made to improve
the water quality in the lake. He
has been at the State Park since 2000 and is currently one of the leaders in
the effort to improve water quality there.
After the water quality advisory came out around Memorial
Day last year, usage at Grand Lake St Marys State Park was down 11% in June
and July compared to usage increases of 6% at
Indian
Lake
and
Lake
Loramie
. “As a result, we’ve lost two
marinas and several lake-related businesses have been greatly impacted,”
Miller said. Over the winter, the
Grand Lake St Marys Restoration Committee formed as an ad-hoc group to address
the issue. The committee meets
each Friday to discuss plans, technologies, and funding resources in an effort
to improve the water quality. As a
result of these meeting they’ve developed a multi-phase pilot plan.
Phase one utilizes three “Airy Gators that will put aeration in the
water, in three inlets around the lake. It’s
on a smaller scale to determine the impact this will have on localized water
quality,” Miller said. WSU Lake
Campus has been very helpful with this project providing water quality testing
and research. “The purpose of
the Airy-Gators is to put dissolved oxygen from the top of the water column
down into the bottom of the lake,” Miller said.
“This dissolved oxygen will feed micro “bugs” that will eat the
sediment on the bottom of the lake and will actually lower the level of the
sediment significantly. The part
that we get excited about is that this is actually proven technology.”
Miller said. “One
location where this technology was used saw the aeration efforts result in a
lowering of their sediment by 3 feet.”
The second phase of technology that will be used is a sediment
collection system on three different tributaries that go into the lake.
The sediment is collected and pumped out of the tributary so it never
reaches the lake. This sediment
contains chemicals that the blue green algae feed on and produce the toxins
that lower the water quality. “We’re
hoping for 99% sediment capture with these collectors,” Miller said.
“We currently have a dredging program but we cannot keep up with
what’s coming into the lake, these collectors should make a huge
difference.”
For the third phase of the project, WSU will test the water all summer,
and develop a report on the results of the application of these technologies.
Based on those results, they will know how much of this equipment will
be needed to work over the entire lake. Once
all of that data is collected, a comprehensive plan can be presented to the
EPA for their help with a large-scale implementation of this plan.
The cost of the pilot project about $500,000.00 and the
fundraising effort to date has raised over $400,000.
“We’re asking the community to helps raise the funds, so we can
test and prove the technology. Then
we can go to the state and federal government with a specific plan,” Miller
said. “We’re working with
veteran-owned company Streamside Systems for the technology and equipment.
To date, two Airy-Gators have been purchased and paid for, two stream
collectors have been paid for and we’re raising the remainder for the funds
for the third collector. The plan
is to have all of the equipment in place by mid-May.”
“The important thing is that we’ve brought the entire region
together with a grass roots effort to improve our water quality at Grand Lake
St Marys,” Miller said. “Fundraising
has been very positive from business and private individuals alike.
So, the initial testing phase of the program is nearly paid for. The
goal now is to keep the communities working together, keep the awareness up,
and get some good results with these technologies.”
Miller said. “I don’t
know if people realize how much this lake impacts the entire region.”
Residents can stay updated on the progress of this project at
www.streamsideprojects.wordpress.com.
Hosting Rotarian: Wayne Lybarger
