Left to right: Henry Pate, Tom Gulbransen, John McArdle, Harry Stone
Battelle presented an interim report to the Grand Lake St. Marys Restoration Committee during a recent meeting at WSU Lake Campus after reviewing nearly 75 prospective vendor proposals. Each proposal included potential lake restoration technologies to address algal blooms that have occurred in Grand Lake St. Marys.
Submissions were analyzed by type of merit, their form and purpose including:
- Controlling Phosphorus loading (internal and external)
- Promising proposals from Ag Solutions Group
- Biomanipulation
- Algaecides
The screening process allowed a closer look at which vendors should be engaged in a more detailed evaluation. From this evaluation, Battelle recommended an ensemble of solutions that could be considered to be pursued locally both in the lake and in the surrounding watershed. Each of the recommended solutions follows one or more of the eight action items recommended in the Grand Lake St. Marys Restoration Strategic Plan.
The Battelle recommendation plan was made possible through partnership with the Governor’s office, The Western Ohio Educational Foundation, Wright State, all four agencies including Natural Resources, Agriculture, Health, and Environmental Protection. The report represents potential short-term and long-term strategies.
One of several of the recommendations, to best meet our short term goals: Lake-wide alum treatment for spring 2012, which is planned with the help of the State of Ohio.
As more plans are completed they will be made available to the public. One of these plans calls for help from residents along the many channels around the lake. Watch for further information on this exciting plan.
A copy of this report will be made available on the LIA website: www.lakeimprovement.com
The primary goal of the Grand Lake Restoration Commission is to restore the health of the lake to ensure that the lake is functional for tourism use this year and every year thereafter. To help address this need, community leaders and volunteers came together in December 2009 to form the Grand Lake St. Marys Restoration Commission – a pioneering initiative dedicated to fostering the regional cooperation and resources needed for the environmental renewal and sustainability to the lake. Our initial efforts primarily focused on identifying the proven scientific strategies and technological solutions able to solve our environmental crisis.
Together, these partner agencies have identified various watershed and in/near-lake alternative best management practices (BMPs) that could be used to help meet the qualitative and quantitative restoration goals for Grand Lake St. Marys and its surrounding communities. Success of these partnerships is driven by the unique strengths of the collaborators wishing to identify new technologies and target entrepreneurial funding to bring them to market.