Lake-saving material being tested

[Spiel]

Lake-saving material being tested

 

 

Dec 31, 2008

Janis Ramsay / www.innisfiljournal.com

 

 

The middle of the winter might not be a time to think about splashing around in the water, but the Lake Simcoe Regional Conservation Authority is doing just that.

 

Phosphorous is still a problem in Lake Simcoe, and the conservation authority has a new solution on the horizon.

 

Staff has just finished a pilot project to test phoslock – a clay-based material meant to absorb the phosphorous (nitrogen) in the water. It’s the first time it has been tested in Canada.

 

“We had two projects and we’re evaluating the results,” said David Lembke, senior environmental monitoring scientist.

 

The tests were done at the Cane Parkway Stormwater Quality Pond in Newmarket and a reservoir at the Scanlon Creek Conservation Area in Bradford. Those areas were picked because there’s little chance any water from those ponds will reach the watercourse, said Lembke.

 

Phoslock is sprayed on the water after it’s mixed into a slurry, then it settles through the water. The important ingredient, Lanthanum, attracts phosphorous and locks it away from the water, so weeds and algae can’t use it to grow, said Lembke. It settles in a less-than paper-thin layer. In a similar way, Lanthanum is used by kidney disease patients to get rid of phosphates in their blood.

 

Phosphorous isn’t good in a lake because it feeds weeds and algae, causing an overabundance of plant life. When those plants die, they decay and in turn absorb oxygen at the bottom of the lake. That means little fish can’t stay along the bottom of the lake to hide from predators, so they are also killed off.

 

The conservation authority did jar tests of phoslock first, which showed no harmful impacts, but Lembke said a real-world environment also had to be tested.

 

“It’s widely used in Australia and Europe and has gone through a lot of tests there. We wanted to test to be thorough.”

 

All summer and into November, staff monitored water quality and algae content. Right now, various ministry officials are looking at the results, to be sure there’s no harmful impact to the ecosystem.

 

The summer of 2008 had quite a bit of rain, which might skew some of the results, said Lembke. So a second test period is expected next summer.

 

“We’d like to see it under different environmental conditions.”

 

Phoslock is just one of many plans to combat phosphorous in Lake Simcoe. The province passed the Lake Simcoe Protection Act Dec. 1. That means $50 million in funding from provincial and federal levels of government will help clean up the lake.

 

Lembke said waterfront residents can also do their part to protect the water, and there may be some financial assistance for changes made.

 

For more information, go to www.lsrca.on.ca or call 905-895-1281.