Lake Improvement Association (LIA) members, who met Saturday morning heard updates on the lake, as well as a message from another guest speaker concerning lake cleanup. As a part of a continuing effort to offer new information and alternatives to the restoration of Grand Lake St. Marys, LIA members heard from Kapex Manufacturing representative Daman Ansted, who spoke of how jet streamer technology could help clean up the lake.
“We have over 600 installations in Japan and China alone solving this exact issue that Grand Lake is having current,” Ansted said. “Our systems have been running for over 20 years. The first systems that were installed over 20 years ago are still running with very low maintenance, very little issues.”
The jet streamer method does not use any chemicals or acids, Ansted noted, and will not harm aquatic life.
“Eighty percent of the problem in this lake is stagnancy — no water movement” Ansted said.
“If you had water movement, a lot of these issues would not arise currently — it may take a lot longer for these issues to pop up.”
A healthy body of water, according to the Ohio Environment Protection Agency (EPA), flows at 2 millimeters per second, he said. Grand Lake St. Marys does not come close to that figure.
“We actually take water from the surface, we then pump that water up and then we use that water itself to be the driving force,” Ansted said. “What we’re doing, is we’re actually now adding oxygen to the bottom. We’re actually starting the oxidation process to be able to break down the contaminants in the water. What we are doing inside this system is not just flow but we’re creating micron-sized bubbles. It also helps to start making the lake work for itself. Instead of adding something to it, it helps solve the issue — this is a very, very-long term sustainability for your lake.”
When jet streamers are combined with algae hunter systems, the algal blooms will sink to the bottom of the lake, he said, where the oxidized water can start to break down and decompose the blooms. If jet streamer technology were to be implemented in Grand Lake St. Marys through Kapex, it would be comprised of 30 jet streamer systems and 15 algae hunters. Ansted estimated the annual cost of running these systems to be $120,000, with the cost of labor over a 10-year span at less than 100,000 per year.
Grand Lake St. Marys State Park Interim Manager Brian Miller updated the LIA on the lake, reminding the community that Annual Lake Clean-up Day will be from 9 a.m. to noon April 30.
“It’s going to be bigger and better this year,” he said. “I want to expand it — after this spring’s run-off, there’s a lot of stuff around that lake. So I’m challenging all of you and the whole community to get your fishing boats out, get your friends, and on that day, let’s get everybody and let’s go around and get those shorelines cleaned up.”
For more information, contact Miller at 419-394-3611.
Miller also addressed the addition of $750,000 to the waterway safety fund, which was supported by state Sen. Keith Faber.
“Senator Faber did us a favor in the transportation bill, he got three quarters of a million dollars moved over to our waterway safety fund, which is our dredge fund,” Miller said. “We’re going to make sure that this money, we’re going to get the most bang for our buck out of it. It is going to get used here and it’s going to get used in a wise manner.”
Rough fish removal will begin on April 11, Miller said, which will include six to seven trap nets set out on the lake.
“Just be cautious of those out there,” Miller said. “Please stay away from those and don’t tamper with them.”
During his report, LIA Vice President Mark Piening spoke of the success of the recent LIA educational series on the organization’s website.
“The educational series has just ended and quite frankly, it was very well received by all of you guys,“ Plening said. “The first week, we had over 4,200 clicks and over 1,700 click-throughs, so we’re going to consider that as being viral.”
By Michelle Stein, Wapakoneta Daily News