lake health – Aquarius-Systems

November 2025 Newsletter

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 15:10:12 +0000

Leaves Fall, Lakes Stay Busy!

A Message from Our Leader: Looking Back, Planning Ahead for Our Lakes

As the Leaves Fall, Harvesting Winds Down

When Communities and Harvesters Work Hand in Hand

What’s Really Happening Beneath the Water?

Beneficial Aquatic Weeds in Lake Greenwood

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 21:17:42 +0000

The squishy green stuff at the bottom of the lake isn’t algae. Those are weeds, and though people seem to hate the feeling of their feet touching them, those weeds might be necessary for the health of the lake.

According to Greenwood County Lake Manager Julie Davis, Greenwood County Lake Management surveys and inspects the invasive plant species yearly. The surveys and inspections include identifying and eliminating aquatic plant species that disrupt the natural ecosystem, impair use of areas and affect native beneficial plants.

Though most people don’t like weeds touching their feet or getting stuck in their boat propellers, some of the weeds in Lake Greenwood are important in maintaining a healthy habitat.

Greenwood County Lake Management tries to maintain native plant species as they eliminate invasive, noxious plants. Native plants, according to South Carolina Department of Natural Resources information, are great fish and bird food and help to properly oxygenate the water.

Each year, Greenwood County Lake Management has an approved aquatic invasive weed management plan for Lake Greenwood. The plan includes chemical, physical and biological controls.

Instead of Curbing Pollution State Lawmakers Consider Chemical Treatment

Tue, 04 Jan 2022 21:48:52 +0000

To clean up the pollution in Jordan Lake, North Carolina lawmakers have tried arguing. They’ve tried SolarBees. They’ve even tried ignoring the problem. All those tactics have failed. Now state officials are examining a potential chemical treatment for the lake — yet another experiment on a vital drinking water source for more than 350,000 people.

The lawmakers and lobbyists behind the chemical scheme are not publicly known. However, one of the state’s most powerful lobbyists, Harold Brubaker, who served 35 years in the House, including two terms as Speaker, represents SePro, a “life sciences” company that sells chemicals to kill aquatic plants in lakes and reservoirs.

SePro’s corporate headquarters are in Carmel, Ind., but it has a research and technology campus in Whitakers, N.C., and a distribution center in Rocky Mount. A review of this year’s registered lobbyists and their clients showed that SePro was the only company that specifically offered this service. Brubaker has represented them since 2016, according to state board of elections records.

Read More https://ncnewsline.com/briefs/instead-curbing-pollution-state-lawmakers-consider-funding-chemical-treatment-jordan-lake/#sthash.M7rsCxsF.dpbs

Lake Association Voices Opposition to Herbicide Use

Wed, 29 Dec 2021 22:13:49 +0000

The Chautauqua Lake Association (CLA) says it has filed objections to a permit applications that would allow for the application of two powerful herbicides to 1,200 acres of Chautauqua Lake this coming summer.

The CLA in New York is the organization that helps manage weeds on the lake by operating a number of harvesters to remove weeds throughout the summer season.

The 10 objections (printed below) from the CLA range from failure to notify all effected shoreline property owners, to the lack of scientific understanding of lake currents that could spread the chemical herbicides well beyond the areas being targeted for herbicide use. Because the permit calls for the use of both the chemicals Aquathol K and Navigate, the CLA also argues the effective coverage area is actually 2,400 acres under the current permitting request.

The 10 objections cited by the CLA to the DEC are:

1. Inappropriate herbicide use endangers fish, animals, birds, insects and plants.
The applications also do not fit within any invasive species or lake management plan ever written & the fully implemented aquatic plant harvesting can work to control nuisance plant growth in Chautauqua Lake – without resorting to herbicides.
2. Affected property owners were not appropriately notified.
3. Failure to comply with county plans.
4. Permit application defies DEC regulations.
5. Proper testing was not performed in 2018
6. “Need” for herbicide use based on flawed surveys.
7. Conflict of interest on who applies the herbicide.
8. Bottom cover should be determined by third-party divers, not guesswork.
9. Coverage area could reach 2,400 acres, without third-party, scientific evaluation of need or efficacy.
10. Lake current patterns – which could disperse the chemicals over a much wider area – are unknown.

Weed Harvester Removes 265 Dump Truck Loads From Black Hawk Lake

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 22:21:22 +0000

In its second year of operation at Black Hawk Lake in Iowa, the Aquatic Vegetation Harvester cut through some very dense underwater foliage this summer and removed an estimated 265 dump truck loads from the lake.

The Aquatic Vegetation Harvester is part of the community’s lake project which is striving to increase Black Hawk Lake’s water quality. This fall two area farmers will spread the tons of vegetation harvested onto their land as fertilizer once it’s been dried.

Dead Seagrass and Wrack Removed to Protect Water Quality in Budgewoi Lake

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 22:04:01 +0000

DEAD seagrass will be removed from Budgewoi Lake and Lake Munmorah in the coming weeks as Wyong Shire Council’s weed harvester shifts into overdrive.

Since August, a total of 730 tonnes of wrack was removed from the lake and taken to Buttonderry Waste Management Facility in Australia.

Last year, the council removed 5800 cubic metres of wrack from the shore zone next to recreational areas which would otherwise have decomposed in the lake, affecting water quality and contributing to the formation of organic black ooze.

Weed Harvesting Helps Control Hybrid Watermilfoil in Lake Hallie

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 21:40:36 +0000

Lake Hallie Lake Association is making some headway in the war they’ve been waging against the hybrid watermilfoil weed.

First discovered in Lake Hallie in 2005, watermilfoil is an invasive aquatic plant that has an aggressive tendency to form a thick mat-like layer as it floats on the water. If left unchecked, this plant can cover huge areas of water, blocking sunlight from reaching more desirable plants and making boat traffic difficult.

Using a weed harvesting machine, the Lake Association harvests from May to September, multiple times per week. Over the course of the season, from 200-300 tons of the plant are removed from the lake.

What Is Aquatic Weed Harvesting and What Results Should You Expect

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 22:21:51 +0000

What is Harvesting?

Operational Considerations for your lake.

Expected Results from a Weed Harvesting Program.

Most aquatic plant harvesting systems will cut and remove submersed plants to a depth of five or six feet. As this biomass is removed from the lake, the water is immediately ready for use and there are no restrictions on use of the area that might be experienced with herbicide or some biological control treatments.

Removal of this biomass prevents its eventual decay and settling to the bottom, helping to reduce sedimentation in the lake. There is some nutrient removal with harvesting too, as the nitrogen and phosphorous that is bound up in the plant exits the water body. Harvesting is usually not lethal, leaving behind an oxygen and possibly habitat producing plant, which may be desirable in some situations.

Many harvester managers have witnessed a reduction in nuisance plant growth after a few years of repeated harvesting. The plants showed signs of stress and came back thinner, lower growing, and more scattered than before. In some cases desirable plants were able to out compete the nuisance plant growth.

Study Finds Herbicides for Eurasian Milfoil Can Harm Native Aquatic Plants

Tue, 30 Nov 2021 22:28:16 +0000

Lake managers might be hurting native aquatic plants – instead of helping them – when they use chemicals to control invasive plants on entire lakes.

New research by Wisconsin DNR Lakes and River Team Leader Dr. Alison Mikulyuk shows native plant communities can struggle when chemicals are used to target invasive Eurasian watermilfoil.

It appears the effects on native plants are worse than if there were no treatment at all.

Fox Lake Plan Uses Harvesting and Herbicides to Manage Nuisance Weeds Near Piers

Fri, 05 Nov 2021 19:01:53 +0000

In recent years Fox Lake in Wisconsin has responded to a decade of water quality management that has shifted the lake from being turbid with frequent algae blooms to a clearer water condition.

This has fostered improved lake use, the return of aquatic plants and a more balanced fishery. One consequence of the water quality improvements is that some homeowners are experiencing nuisance levels of plant growth in front of their piers, inhibiting navigation to open water.

To address aquatic plant problem areas, the Fox Lake Inland Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District has developed an Aquatic Plant Management Plan that includes the mechanical harvesting of navigational channels to access open water and an herbicide treatment plan to create a path between the pier area and harvested channels.