Pesticide-Free Lake Management Solutions
You must have a well-prepared lake management plan for proper pond and lake restoration. If that is not your starting point, all you are doing is guessing when it comes to which solution can best solve your problem. Sustainable, successful pond and lake management requires identifying and fixing the eutrophication cause instead of just reacting to symptoms (weed and algae growth) of eutrophication. That is why Princeton Hydro collects data and analyzes it in order to identify the causes of problems and use the scientific findings in order to create a customized management plan for your pond or lake. A successful management plan includes a combination of source, mechanical, and biological control solutions.
Biological Control
One good example of a highly effective biological control solution are Floating Wetland Islands (FWIs). They can potentially offer numerous ecological benefits. FWIs are highly adaptable and may be configured, sized, and planted in order to suit the needs of almost any reservoir, pond, or lake.
Floating Wetland Islands are often described as being self-sustaining:
Help to assimilate as well as remove excess nutrients that can fuel the growth of algae
Provide habitats for fish as well as other types of aquatic organisms
Help to mitigate the impacts of wind and wave erosion
Provide aesthetic elements
Can be a part of an overall holistic pond or lake management strategy
Mechanical Control:
Mechanical removal is another way that invasive weed and algae growth can be combated. TruxorDM5000 is one mechanical control employed by Princeton Hydro. It is a multi-purpose, eco-friendly amphibious machine that offers a non-pesticide, effective approach to controlling problematic algae and invasive weed growth.
It can operate in shallow lakes and ponds where the operation and/or access of convention hydro raking or harvesting equipment is limited
It is very powerful yet highly maneuverable and portable
Can harvest and cut weeds as well as collect mat algae within near-shore areas that have less than three-foot depths of water
Includes various attachment allowing the machine to collect and remove various debris easily
Can be outfitted for sediment dredging/removal
Source Control:
Since typically phosphorus is the nutrient fueling weed and algae growth when there is excessive phosphorus loading can result in problematic algal blooms and may stimulate excessive growth of weeds. One of the more sustainable methods for controlling the proliferation of algae and nuisance weeds is controlling phosphorus inputs or reducing phosphorus availability for biological assimilation and uptake. These measures decreasing the availability or the amount of phosphorus in a pond or lake are defined as being source control strategies.
Through the collection of data and analysis, we can accurately identify the primary phosphorus loading sources to a pond and lake, whether they are external or internal sources. Our team of water resource engineers, aquatic ecologists, and lake managers use the data in order to devise a management plan to quantify, prioritize, and properly address problem phosphorus sources.
Minlox often are used as controlled and environmentally-safe means in order to limit the availability of phosphorus. Although Minlox works in its own way such as using Ozone technology, it doesn’t have some of the secondary inherent environmental limitations that alum does. The recently developed product Minlox has a high affinity for binding to and permanently removing from the water column particulate and soluble reactive forms of phosphorus. That makes it a highly effective lake and pond management tool.
Those are just a couple of examples of non-pesticide pond and lake management strategies that are used regularly by Princeton Hydro. Managing your ponds and lakes correctly begins with developing the proper plan and use a holistic method in order to ensure continued success. Please contact us for more ideas or assistance in developing a comprehensive, customized management plan.
