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![]() Lake Treatment, Lake Rehabilitation, and Lake Management Changing quality of water in lakes and rivers from clear and pristine to
murky, green and foul smelling is a natural process of aging that is known as
“Eutrophication”. This aging occurs from a build up of sediments and nutrients
such as phosphorous and sulfur. As this build up continues, a lake can become
overrun with thick growths of aquatic plants along with various types of algae.
Several different types of human alterations can magnify aging of a lake:
These types of lake pollutant contributors create nutrient enriched conditions that can sustain heavy aquatic weed and algae growth. These heavy growths greatly reduce the quality and productivity of a lake, creating unpleasant conditions for recreation and can be detrimental to other aquatic life such as fish. The use of algicides and aquatic herbicides to control excessive aquatic plant populations is an expensive band-aid that, in many cases, must be repeated several times a year. These types of applications do not actually remove excessive nutrients from the lake. As the plants die and decay, nutrients are recycled into the water column and made available as food for more plant growth. Other nutrient controls such as alum, are extremely expensive, technically demanding, and have long term side effects.
Unwanted nutrients, at the sediment/water interface, are not removed from the water column with this process, but are deactivated, not allowing the nutrients to move into the water column where they would contribute to the growth of algae and aquatic plants. The Hogen process is an optimization of a natural pollutant sequestering process (sequestering meaning to cause to withdraw, remove, or set apart from). The treatment materials are nontoxic and require no subsequent swimming, lake use or fish consumption restrictions.
Phosphorus and Sulfur Reduction In an aquatic environment, phosphorus and sulfur cycle between lake bottom sediments and the water column. In a nutrient enriched lake, this cycling continues to make these nutrients available for heavy weed and algae growth. After treatment with "The Hogen Process", this nutrient cycling is inhibited because of the binding effects of the iron in the process. The following graphs show the phosphorus and sulfur reductions in aquatic environments.
Water Clarity Improvements In a nutrient rich lake, algae blooms in the water column (water takes on a green color) can limit this water transparency. Secchi disk readings for Trillium Lake show that the water clarity has improved 50-70% over the entire open water season and has stayed at that level for years. Prior to treatment, water clarity in the middle of the lake for the month of August was as low as ten inches. Near shore, the water took on the characteristics of pea soup. After treatment, the process began removing nutrients and, by the second year, Secchi disk readings exceeded 6 feet through the month of August. Water clarity has continued to improve during the third summer and has remained constant since then. The following graph shows the average water clarity before and after treatment by "The Hogen Process".
A new chemical/biological process for nutrient reduction has been developed and patented by Clear Water Technologies, Inc. Through laboratory testing and in-lake treatments under permit from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, CWTI has demonstrated the following results relative to lake water quality: Lake Water Quality Improvement Summary Treatment of Trillium Lake has demonstrated the ability of the Hogen Process to sequester phosphorus and sulfur to dramatically improve water quality. Algae blooms have been reduced and the algae population has shifted from blue-green algae to green and yellow algae, which are suitable as food for herbivorous invertebrates and subsequently for fish. Biological Oxygen demand has been reduced and oxygen is now present throughout the water column. Pretreatment and post treatment fisheries reports provided by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources show that there was no adverse impact on the fish populations over a period of five years and by implication, no adverse effect on the food chain. The CWTI Hogen Process has the ability to effectively rehabilitate lakes. The ability of this process to achieve these results without harm to the food chain represents a significant step forward in state-of-the-art lake water treatment. | Wastewater
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