“As an oil company, BP comes close to being criminal. It has repeatedly skirted the law, most recently in developing the Atlantis project.”
– Wenonah Hauter

Food and Water Watch  British oil giant BP owns and operates a giant oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico. They call this rig “Atlantis.”

Atlantis is leaking. And there are serious safety concerns about this platform that have not been addressed.

What would happen to the ocean and the coastal communities along the Gulf of Mexico if 8.4 million gallons of oil and 180 million cubic feet of gas a day spilled?

Already vulnerable, Atlantis sits in an area of the Gulf threatened by the current hurricane season. It makes sense that this location requires putting safety above all else. Instead, this platform poses numerous potential hazards for the Gulf. If Atlantis failed, it could:

•  Create an oil spill in the Gulf that dwarfs the Exxon Valdez disaster.
• Endanger the lives and safety of the platform workers, fishermen and rescue workers.
• Destroy the livelihood of people relying on the bounty and beauty of the Gulf and the coast.
• Ruin wildlife environs and kill fish, birds and other native animals.

In an effort to prevent this destruction, ask your elected officials to attend a Food & Water Watch briefing on this critical issue at 1:00 on Thursday, October 8. When you do, you will also be joining Food & Water Watch in their request to Secretary Salazar at the U.S. Department of the Interior to halt continuing construction on the platform and for Congress to hold hearings into the lack of management, oversight and accountability that has plagued this platform. We need your voice behind us.

Write today to prevent another Gulf disaster.

Get the details about this disaster-in-waiting and our efforts to stop it. Read Wenonah Hauter’s blog posting on our call for government action.

Illustration of No Aeration Versus with Airmax Aeration

Pond & Lake Q & A

Q: I lost all of my fish after the winter. We love to catch fish in the pond and now we have to start over! What happened? And is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening again? – Alfred of Michigan

A: My first thought when I read this question was, “They don’t have an aeration system”. And after speaking with him, come to find out, he didn’t. This is usually always the case during a winter fish kill. Everything seems to be going just fine when all of a sudden one morning you wake up to discover a wave of fish floating on your pond’s surface. This is not a pretty sight, nor is it any fun to clean up. So what causes fish kill and what can you do to prevent it?

What Causes Fish Kill?
During the warmer months of the year a pond with no aeration will contain oxygen towards the surface of the pond. This is because there is an oxygen transfer from air to water at the pond’s surface. The bottom of the pond, however, will contain very little or no oxygen; Certainly not enough to support fish life. Also, the toxins associated with fish waste and other organic biodegradation tend to sink and stay at those lower depths of the pond, polluting the already oxygen-starved water. This unfortunately, condenses your fishes’ habitat area and forces them to live towards the surface of the pond.

There is also a difference in temperature from the bottom of the pond to the surface. The bottom of the pond will be colder than the pond’s surface. The reason for this is because the sun will heat up the surface of the water and since cold water is denser than warmer water, the cold water will fall to the bottom. This difference in temperatures can be quite dramatic at times. Have you ever jumped into a pond and felt the brisk cold water towards your feet? This is the thermocline border. This dramatic change in temperature can cause your fish to stress as they travel from a warm temperature to a cold temperature and back to warm. This stress can lower their immune systems.

During the colder months of the year, the oxygen as well as the thermocline will actually flip. All of a sudden the colder water containing no oxygen will mix with the warmer water with oxygen. As this mixing occurs, the fish are left with few places to go for oxygen and they will eventually suffocate.

Another issue during the winter are toxic gasses. As bottom organics (grass clippings, leaves, trees, twigs, fish waste, etc.) decay, they will create toxic gasses. When ice covers the pond’s surface, these toxic gasses are trapped underneath the ice and will cause a fish kill.

Preventing Fish Kills
Using an Airmax Aeration System is the single most important way to help prevent winter fish kills. The reasons are simple: With an Airmax Aeration System, a compressor sits on shore and pumps air down to a diffuser on the pond’s bottom. This air forces the cold water containing no oxygen to the pond’s surface. This water, because it is denser, will fall back to the pond’s bottom. This cycle will repeat and create a convection or current within the water column. This will fill the whole water body with oxygen as well as maintain the same temperature level throughout the pond (see illustration on left).

Also, during the winter months, when ice has covered the surface of the pond. An Airmax Aeration System will keep a small hole open in the ice to allow those toxic gases to escape.

The Bottom Line: Having aeration will help reduce the chances of fish kill. Also, remember that this is one of many benefits of having an aeration system (Refer to this blog post for the other benefits of aeration).

Harsh winter leads to fish kills in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Spring walks around some Minneapolis lakes might come with a whiff of fish because those lakes are experiencing a fish kill after a harsh winter.

The Minneapolis parks department is warning on Friday of fish kills on Diamond Lake, Grass Lake, Loring Pond, Powderhorn Lake and Lake Hiawatha.

A department manager says occasional winter kills are a natural part of life in shallow Minnesota lakes and are more likely after winters with deep ice and snow cover.

The winter kills rarely result in the loss of the all the fish, and fish populations rebound on their own.

On the up side, the winter kills tend to thin out the population of carp in the lakes. With fewer of the bottom feeders, the water clarity in the lake tends to improve.

Source

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=6570723200066281684&hl

The Lake Restoration Problem:

Development within watersheds has increased greatly in recent years and many lakes have been subjected to an ever-increasing load of nutrients and sediments, resulting in decreased lake water quality, thereby interfering with lake restoration efforts. Increased nutrient loadings are most commonly due to excessive use of fertilizers, malfunctioning septic systems, poor erosion control and improper waste disposal within the watershed. As development continues to increase, the amount of total hard–surfaced area also increases and the volume and velocity of the water moving through the watershed into surface waters is increased. This run-off erodes soils and transports organic materials and nutrients from surface soils. Inorganic materials, in the form of sand, silt, and clay are also transported to receiving waters, resulting in decreased lake water quality.

Lake Restoration by Controlling Input:

In an ideal world, applying effective lake restoration controls within the watershed to control the quality and limit the quantity of run-off should be the best solution. However, even in the best situation, watershed controls are not 100% effective in achieving lake restoration. These lake restoration control measures can reduce nutrient loadings but they are only as effective as the enforcement effort behind their implementation. The elevated nutrient loadings that find their way into streams, lakes and ponds cause: algae blooms, proliferation of rooted aquatic plants, low dissolved oxygen levels, increased water temperature, odors, increased bacteria levels, and stunted fish populations or fish kills and do not accomplish complete lake restoration. Many studies have shown that watershed management only reduces pollutants in lakes by about 5 – 35 percent. This usually is not enough to make a noticeable difference in lake restoration for aquatic lake weed and lake algae growth, does little or nothing to improve fish health, nothing to reduce mucky lake bottoms or reduce disease bacteria or odors.

Natural Lake Restoration Processes:

Healthy lakes have a natural lake restoration capacity to cleanse themselves. Each lake is an individual ecosystem with a food chain of organisms that assimilate the incoming nutrients. The food chain moves nutrients up from the simplest single-celled bacteria, to people catching fish. This natural lake restoration system works very well to improve lake water quality, keeping the ecosystem in balance until excessive nutrient inflow overwhelms the ability of the ecosystem to assimilate the nutrients. Once this occurs, the excessive nutrient levels adversely affect the aesthetic qualities of the lake by stimulating the growth of nuisance algae and plant life. Algae blooms can quickly turn a lake “pea soup” green or cause the formation of “smelly” floating algae mats. Lake weeds can interfere with swimming, boating and fishing.

Attempted Lake Restoration with Chemical Treatment:

Traditionally, aquatic weed or algae problems have been addressed by using chemical treatments. Chemicals are applied at the water surface or directly to floating mats. The chemicals kill the weeds and algae and the dying vegetation sinks to the bottom of the water-body where it rots. As the vegetation rots, the plant nutrients in it that have been absorbed from the water are released back to the water column and become nutrients for the next weed growth or algae bloom. But something far worse occurs; as the vegetation decays, it uses up the oxygen at the bottom. Many studies have shown that an average of about three times as much nutrients are released from bottom sediment of lakes without oxygen, than what typically comes in from the watershed each year. The next weed or algal growth will occur when conditions of light and temperature are favorable, and the concentration of the water treatment chemical in the water column is reduced below toxic levels. The effectiveness of the water treatment chemical is quickly reduced as it settles to the bottom and is diluted by lake inflow and mixing with waters from untreated portions of the lake. The dead mass of vegetation accumulates on the bottom of the lake adding to the mass of organic sediments already there. Herbicides and algaecides do more harm to water quality than they do good. They sometimes cause fish kills and add toxic substances to the water and sediments, and have completely failed to achieve true lake restoration.

The Beginning of the lake Restoration Problem:

If there is oxygen present, the accumulated organic sediments begin to decompose aerobically. This organic material serves as food for bacteria and organisms that live in the substrate (bacteria, insect larvae, worms, etc.). These organisms require and consume dissolved oxygen as they digest the organic sediments. As sediments and biological activity increase, dissolved oxygen levels are depleted and become limiting. Low or no dissolved oxygen conditions can occur quickly, eliminating aerobic organisms and slowing the breakdown of the organic sediments. Then the growth of anaerobic bacteria, the bacteria that thrives in an environment of low or no dissolved oxygen, increases. Anaerobic digestion of the organic sediments begins, releasing toxic gases into the water that kill beneficial aerobic bacteria and insects.

The Real Lake Restoration Problem:

Anaerobic digestion of lake sediments is a much slower process than with aerobic digestion. Where aerobic digestion can result in the control or reduction of organic sediment levels, anaerobic digestion almost always allows organic sediments levels to increase. During anaerobic digestion, bacterial enzymes and lack of oxygen make the nutrients in the bottom sediments soluble. Then the nutrients return to the water column and are available to support new weed and algae growth. Anaerobic conditions at the lake bottom have a damaging effect on the food chain that supports fish populations as well as reducing or eliminating fish habitat, ultimately resulting in a reduction of the fish quality, size and quantity.

Treating the Symptoms:

Chemical treatment of lakes for algae control and aquatic plants can be a valuable tool in the aesthetic management of a lake, but it does not eliminate the condition that causes the problem. Water treatment chemicals cannot be applied to prevent an algae bloom. They can only be applied to eliminate the bloom. The bloom captures dissolved nutrients from the water column and creates algae. The chemical treatment kills the lake algae, and the dead and dying organisms settle to the bottom where they decompose releasing soluble nutrients back to the water column. Once the biomass is formed, nutrients are effectively locked into the lake’s ecosystem to be recycled forever. Some chemical treatments, copper in particular, can accumulate in lake sediments when used year after year. Accumulated copper can reach levels that are toxic to aquatic organisms or result in the growth of algae that is resistant to the effects of copper. Herbicides for aquatic weed control create similar problems.

The Natural Lake Restoration Process:

The natural assimilation of nutrients in the lake ecosystem begins to breakdown when these natural processes are limited or eliminated by low oxygen levels. Aerobic organisms are much more efficient at digesting organic material than anaerobic organisms. Aerobic organisms feed on organic material contained in the sediments and assimilate these nutrients into increased body mass and reproduction. Aerobically assimilated nutrients become part of the food chain, rather than being recycled within the water column, as they are when anaerobic conditions exist. By maintaining aerobic conditions at the bottom of a lake, fish, the top consumer will also improve in quantity and quality as the fish aid in the lake restoration process. Maintaining the aerobic environment will also reduce or prevent the accumulation of organic sediments. Aerobic conditions at the lake bottom benefit all aspects of the aquatic environment, resulting in true lake restoration.

The CLEAN-FLO Approach:

The CLEAN-FLO Continuous Laminar Flow Inversion and Oxygenation System restores and maintains aerobic conditions in lakes. The CLEAN-FLO system employs natural non-turbulent inversion to aerate the lake from bottom to top. The CLEAN-FLO system allows natural lake restoration processes to naturally occur within a lake using oxygen (air) and natural lake restoration bacterial and enzyme products. Click here to read about our Lake Aeration Systems.

Lake Specific System:

Each CLEAN-FLO system is engineered specifically for the lake in which it is to be installed. The design process begins with an assessment of water quality data and existing conditions. Watershed characteristics, and physical dimensions and depths are also evaluated. A system is then designed to address the specific conditions that exist in the lake.