ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCTS

  Polluted Lakes – A Threat to Ecosystem Equilibrium   
			

The presence of a beautiful, clean lakes not only improve the aesthetic value of a village or city but also support Eco System Balance and provide a more appealing & healthy environment. Lakes are basically stagnant bodies of water. Despite occasional surface turbulence, such stagnant bodies of water slowly form temperature layers along the depth. Oxygen levels also vary considerably throughout the water column. Such layers result into thermal stratification.

Ponds or Lakes that support rapid algae or plant growth are termed “eutrophic” ponds. Eutrophication comes from the Greek work for “over fe d” and that’s just what plants are when they tend to grow fast. Such ponds are overly fertile with plant food (mainly nitrates and phosphates).

The normal death of a pond or lake over the centuries is for it to fill up with dead plant matter until there is no water left, just weeds, grass, trees or a meadow.

Biotechnology – A Modern Approach for Saving Lakes

A good lake is one, which contains fresh; sparkling clear, sweet smelling water and which supports fish life free from excessive algae and weeds. Biotechnology based solutions involve the use of scientific methods to maintain natural health of lake.

The Essential components of a good Biological solutions are:

1. The presence of a sufficient quality of beneficial facultative bacteria


2. The provision for sufficient Pond/Lake Bed Aeration

Natural bacteria attack the oil, milk, why, manure or whatever from canning plants, municipal sewage plants, farms, factories and mills. Bacteria will breathe oxygen if it is available. They love this feast of oxygen and to grow very quickly thereby multiplying rapidly to gigantic numbers. Hence, effective aeration speeds up this process of oxidizing or “Burning Up” pollution. The key therefore, to keeping a pond or lake in ‘good’ condition is through proper pond management. This involves speeding up the bacterial digestion of dead plant matter and to slow down the production of new matter – to the point where bacteria can keep ahead.

1. Pond Bed Aeration – A necessity




The installation of pond bed aeration oxygenates the water at the bottom, and eliminates the hypolimnion by low cost, low powered, continuous destratifcation of the thermal layers. The whole idea of aeration is to get oxygen into the deep water. Aeration with tiny air bubbles from bottom up and circulation of lower water layers helps to achieve uniform levels of oxygen and temperatures throughout the lake. Once the lake or pond is full of oxygen near the bottom, new insect larvae, snails and other fish food can begin to live at the bottom.



Several forms of pond aeration have been used in the past. Most of these older units are what we call “Surface splashers”. Various designs of a) Water Fountains, b) electric motor driven water pumps or c) propellers – cause water to splash around on the surface and into the air. Unfortunately, these various units expose just surface water to the atmosphere and NOT deep water and do little to help.

An air diffuser that produces tiny air bubbles (as shown below) from the bottom also brings the bottom water to the surface where it is exposed to the atmosphere.

Large volumes of water thus lose bad gases to the atmosphere and water picks up even more oxygen while on the surface. An air bubble half the size will release 4 times much oxygen.




Pond bed aeration then helps limit plant growth by starving them from the nutrients.



Plants need iron for photosynthesis and phosphorus to produce enzymes. Dissolved oxygen in the water makes all iron oxidize to the ferric state from the ferrous state. Ferric phosphate is not soluble in water. Hence, this phosphorus is precipitated into the bottom mud as insoluble iron phosphates and is no longer available for plant growth.
Approximately 20 to 25 species of beneficial composting microbes are applied to enhance the composting process. Some species enhance the process by generation of heat, whereas others specifically act to remove pathogenic micro-organisms and still others promote the biological activity of the soil. Some variety of strains also aid in eradicating weed seeds thereby discouraging the growth of weeds.
Plants need nitrogen in a fixed, water soluble form. The fixed nitrogen most often found in water from decaying vegetation is ammonia. When a lake or pond is aerated, the ammonia is blown right out of the pond mechanically. The water and air exchange ammonia, but the air moves away in the wind and hence, there goes nitrogen by “Phase Distribution”.
Plants need carbon dioxide and water to make sugar through photosynthesis. Once again, by phase distribution, the carbon dioxide is blown away in the wind by surface exchange.
Another dissolved gas coming from decaying plant matter in a “BAD” pond bottom is deadly hydrogen sulfide. This has the smell of rotten eggs and is highly toxic to fish. If oxygen is present in the water, no hydrogen sulfide is formed. Where the pond or lake is “BAD”, aeration causes more phase distribution and the smell of rotten eggs is strong above the aerator for the first period of time and may even result in a temporary fish kill.

Most of the off-flavors in fish flesh taken from a “BAD” lake are due to the presence of sulfur compounds coming from this hydrogen sulfide. Even small amounts of oxygen in the lake bottom are toxic to the sulfate-producing bacteria responsible for the hydrogen sulfide. Hence aeration makes fish taste better and hence considered a “GOOD” lake.



2. Pond Bed Aeration – A necessity

Facultative bacteria are those, which can grow with or without oxygen. However, in the presence of oxygen, these bacteria perform like Aerobic bacteria and grow 20 to 30 times faster than conditions deprived of adequate oxygen. Anaerobic bacteria live and grow in the absence of oxygen but multiply and act very slowly. In one year, aerobic bacteria or facultative bacteria in the presence of oxygen digest and change into carbon dioxide and water the amount of dead vegetation that anaerobic bacteria would take 30 years to digest.

Hence, if oxygen is present at the pond bottom (Benthal), aerobic bacteria begin to build their populations and help prevent the accumulation of bottom muck or sludge. The constant supply of aeration and pond water destratification keep the aerobic bacteria on their jobs by assuring them the necessary quantity of oxygen.

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ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCTS

ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCTS
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