aquatic vegetation cutter – Aquarius-Systems

Water Solutions on a Global Scale

Wed, 29 Dec 2021 17:17:38 +0000

Milwaukee, Wisconsin has earned a global reputation as the freshwater technology capital of the U.S. With 238 water technology businesses in the region, Milwaukee is the ideal location for The Water Council, an organization dedicated to solving critical global water challenges and providing expertise in water stewardship.

Naval officers representing 30 countries recently visited the Global Water Center to learn what private companies, nongovernmental organizations and universities are doing to address worldwide water crises.

The Naval Officers heard from a business that uses sensors to measure water levels to help communities understand flood risks; a septage treatment system project that reduced human exposure to pathogens in fecal sludge and visited the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences to learn about research happening there.

Aquarius Systems, a member of The Water Council was honored to be invited to explain how our machines such as the Aquatic Vegetation Cutters, Trash Skimmers and Amphibious Excavators help clear the surfaces of lakes and river, allowing them to continue using the water for drinking, irrigation, and hydropower.

As naval leaders, they can use what they learned to address water problems in their own countries. Water is the most basic of necessities and sharing local expertise is in the best interest of everyone.

Wild Rice Harvesting, Culture, and Restoration in Wisconsin

Tue, 07 Oct 2014 13:39:05 +0000

Wild rice is an annual aquatic grass that produces seed that is a delicious and nutritious source of food for wildlife and people. Harvested in the early autumn, wild rice was an immensely important commodity to Native Americans, particularly the Ojibwe and Menominee, who lived in the areas where it grew abundantly. The Menominee even took their name from the Indian word for wild rice, manomin, and were often referred to as the Wild Rice People by Europeans.

Botanically, wild rice differs from common rice, and is actually a cereal grass that grows in shallow lakes and streams, ripening in late summer. While the range of wild rice stretches from Manitoba to Florida, the most prolific stands are located in the upper Great Lakes of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Today Wisconsin has seventy major rice fields in thirteen counties. The grain usually begins to ripen in sections of the Wolf and Wisconsin rivers before lakeside areas are ready to be harvested.

Only Wisconsin residents may harvest wild rice in the state and must purchase and possess a wild rice harvesting license. Harvesters are limited to gathering wild rice in boats no longer than seventeen feet and no wider than 38 inches that must be propelled by muscular power using paddles or push poles. The grain is still harvested by hand using wooden sticks (flails) that bend the tall stalks over the canoe. As the seed heads are tapped, some rice falls in the canoe and some in the water to seed the bed for future years. The flails must be rounded wooden rods or sticks no more than 38 inches long and hand-operated. Harvesting should be done gently, so that the stalks and beds can be harvested again as more rice matures.

Many of the large wild rice beds in Wisconsin have been lost due to pollution, exotic species, large boat wakes and especially changes in water levels. Dams erected many miles away can also affect the harvest, for wild rice grows in the shallow parts of lakes and streams, maturing best if a fairly constant water level is maintained. The primary method of wild rice lake management is by controlling water levels on the lakes by operating water control structures (dams), ditch maintenance, and beaver dam management. Aquarius Systems’ equipment is also used to help maintain the wild rice by removing aquatic vegetation and helping to restore the flow of water.

An aquatic vegetation cutter (AVC) better known as a Swamp Devil® effortlessly plow through bogs, water hyacinth, cattails, small trees, tulle, tussocks and other stubborn growth. In the process it also carves through the subsoil creating an open water channel up to three feet deep and eight feet wide, allowing the water to once again flow freely.

Learn More about Wisconsin Wild Rice

Mechanical Harvesting of Eurasian Milfoil Improves Safety at Columbia River Parks

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:59:26 +0000

By Rochelle Feil

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

This harvest feeds no hunger, just a compost pile.

The benefit from the harvest is safety and convenience for users of parks along the Columbia River in Washington: no tangled feet and easier launching for boaters.

Ben Mendoza and Randy Smith, Chelan County PUD park maintenance personnel, spend four days a week July through August clearing parks of Eurasian milfoil, an aquatic noxious weed. The parks are between the Beebe Bridge and Rock Island Dam.

“It’s kinda like mowing lawn,” says Smith about running the milfoil harvester.

The harvester cuts the milfoil below the water level, catches and lifts it onto a conveyor and secures it in a holding tank until the harvester docks and the milfoil is removed.

Smith and Mendoza have worked together since 1997 and have been harvesting milfoil for the state and county parks along the Columbia River in Chelan and Douglas counties for two years.

A day harvesting milfoil begins with getting the harvester ready for the water.

They lower the paddle wheels, take the “Oversize Load” sign off the back and erect a large shade umbrella over the seating area. Even with the umbrella, they lather on the sunscreen and get ready for a hot day on the water.

Also with them are inflatable vests, safety goggles, ear plugs, lots of water and iced Gatorade.

The men back a trailer holding the harvester into the water, then push the machine off the trailer with the help of a hydraulic lift.

While one person runs the harvester on the water, the other stays on shore, performing basic maintenance on the pump and trailer.

When the harvester is full, it is maneuvered toward shore, where the conveyor is shifted into reverse and the load is dumped onto a truck bed. The load is then taken to a compost heap on park grounds.

Keith Truscott, environmental and permitting manager for Chelan County PUD, says milfoil has such a high water content that even a very large pile will break down to almost nothing when it dries.

By the time the truck has come back from dumping the weeds, says Smith, the harvester is often full again and the next batch of harvested milfoil is ready to be taken to the compost pile.

Mendoza and Smith agree that Dave Coble, their crew leader and the man who trained them to use the machine, holds the record for most loads harvested in a single day at 26. Mendoza and Smith claim they aren’t really keeping count, but Mendoza says his personal record is about 14.

The size of the park, technical difficulty and the amount of milfoil to be harvested determines how long it takes to finish each park and how much is harvested each day.

Mendoza says the job is easier when the water level is lower. The milfoil and any hazards are easier to see then.

Both he and Smith concede the most difficult park is Will Risk Memorial Park, commonly known as Entiat park. Foundations from the original town of Entiat, buried underwater after the erection of Rocky Reach Dam in 1961, are near the surface there. The two slow down when harvesting that area to prevent damaging the machine.

If something on the harvester needs fixing, often it can be done while still on the water, with the tools kept on board.

Harvesting can get a little scary when the gates at dams open, Mendoza says. With the stronger current and a full load, the harvester can’t move very quickly and has to fight against the current.

Duties working in park maintenance vary and include plowing snow in the winter, mowing lawns and pruning.

The two men work four days a week, Monday through Thursday, avoiding Fridays and weekends because the boat launches and parks are busier on those days.

“We try to be considerate and stay out of people’s way,” says Smith.

Rochelle Feil: 664-7153

feil@wenworld.com