Below is an update from Katie Coluccio, a Hydrogeologist from WSP who is in charge of the lake trial for Templeton Group.
As you may have seen, work has been ongoing over the past few months to install equipment for the aeration trial in the lake. All equipment for the trial has now been installed and tested.
The monitoring buoys in the lake continue to show the lake conditions are generally in ‘winter mode’, with well-mixed conditions consisting of healthy oxygen levels at the bottom of the water column.
Based on historical measurements, we expect lake conditions to start to shift in early spring. Normally, this would mean a stratified water column with low oxygen levels towards the bed of the lake. We are aiming to disrupt this pattern with the aeration trial.
We are planning to turn the aeration on at the end of this month – on or about 24th August. We will carry out water quality monitoring just before and after the aeration is turned on to assess immediate effects of the trial beginning. Regular monitoring will continue throughout the trial.