Sustainable Solutions for Enhanced Water Quality
One of the great tools in an aquatic management professional’s tool box is lake and pond aeration. Aeration is the mixing of water in a lake or pond to increase exposure to the atmosphere and decrease harmful gases within the aquatic ecosystem. This mixing can provide many benefits, including “cleaning” the water of cloudiness and odors and helps reduce nutrients in the water column, thereby reducing the likelihood of problematic algae blooms and water quality issues.
Which solution is the best fit for my waterbody?
Submersed Aeration Systems
Submersed aeration and floating fountains each provide their own unique benefits. Submersible aeration systems, or submerged aeration systems, utilize a weather-protected on-shore compressor to pump air through a subsurface tube to submerged bubble diffusers. As the bubbles rise, they carry the low oxygen water from the bottom towards the surface, where it mixes with the oxygen-rich surface water and atmospheric oxygen before sinking back to the bottom. The continuous vertical mixing helps to increase dissolved oxygen concentration throughout the entire waterbody.
Submersed Aeration Benefits:
- Increases oxygen levels at the bottom of a waterbody to help improve the natural decomposition of organic material
- Helps prevent mosquito breeding sites due to non-stagnant water
- Can help prevent fish kills
- Solar options are available for waterbodies with no access to electric or for those who want to reduce their environmental footprint
Floating Fountains
Floating fountains are great management tools for smaller, shallower waterbodies such as stormwater ponds. Fountains circulate the top layer of ponds by pumping water through the system and falls in beautiful patterns. This constant cycling of the water column is essential to maintaining overall pond health.
Floating Fountain Benefits:
- Add an element of beauty to waterbodies
- Helps circulate the water column to mitigate excessive nutrient loading from stormwater runoff
- Increases oxygen levels and reduces the probability of water quality issues from developing
- Can be enhanced with eye-catching lighting options
