Lake Quality

A More Effective Approach for Preserving & Enhancing Lake Quality

Lake quality webpage banner of children enjoying a lake and lake pollution sources

CEDS has developed a unique approach to preserving and enhancing lake quality. The CEDS approach is more effective than conventional methods and produces improvements in lake quality far more rapidly at a lower cost. The 18-minute narrated PowerPoint at the following link illustrates how the CEDS approach is improving the quality of a number of lakes in our home state of Maryland: https://youtu.be/7akpY-SbRjs. To learn how we can help preserve and enhance lake quality in your area, contact CEDS at 410-654-3021 or Help@ceds.org.

Lake Pollution Sources

To preserve and enhance lake quality, pollution sources in the land area draining to the lake – the watershed – must first be reduced to a level compatible with a high quality lake, such as those set forth in USEPA Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) analyses. Sediment (eroded soil) and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) tend to be the pollutants posing the greatest threat to lake quality. In most lake watersheds, these pollutants come mostly from construction sites, pastures and farm fields, along with parking lots, streets, rooftops and other impervious surfaces.

Reduce Pollution First Before Dredging & Other Expensive Lake Quality Enhancement Measures

Until pollution loads are reduced it is unlikely that conventional measures such as dredging and aeration will provide significant, long-term lake quality improvements. However, once pollution loads are reduced, dredging and other conventional measures may be essential to improving lake quality. For further detail on why reducing pollution loads first is essential, see for example Restoration of eutrophic lakes: current practices and future challenges.

Identifying Threats to Your Lake

The first step in improving lake quality is to identify pollution sources. CEDS does this through a watershed audit. Here are links to two very different watershed audits:

The public awareness created by CEDS watershed audits has produced very dramatic and quick reductions in pollution sources. The reduction came from providing government agencies and others with the additional public support essential to helping those responsible for the pollution employ highly effective river and lake quality protection measures.

Rapid Reduction in Lake Quality Threats: A Cooperative Approach

In the past CEDS has used an adversarial approach to curbing pollution threatening river and lake quality. While this approach produced some dramatic improvements, reduced pollution loads tended to be short term. Once the bad publicity went away, pollution loads increased once again.

Now rather then labelling those responsible for sources as polluters instead we’ve found it far better to identify each source as a river or lake quality enhancement opportunity. Here’s a typical example.

The two upper photos below are of a stormwater Best Management Practice (BMP) known as an infiltration basin which can trap 85% of the nutrients washed from the rooftops, streets and parking lots of the six-acre townhouse community (pictured below) draining to the basin.

This BMP was supposed to allow 90% of all runoff to soak (infiltrate) into the basin floor. As the runoff infiltrated through underlying soils up to 85% of nitrogen and phosphorus would be retained allowing much cleaner groundwater to enter nearby streams and lakes. However, as shown in the lower photos, a six-inch opening on the bottom of the basin concrete spillway was allowing all runoff to rapidly exit the basin before it could infiltrate. By installing a $40 plug in the six-inch opening basin pollution trapping effective increased from 0% to 85%!

CEDS brought this enhancement opportunity to the townhouse community association which whole-heartedly supported correction. Together we worked with local stormwater agency officials to get the plug installed within a few weeks of first identifying this lake enhancement opportunity.

Through surveys conducted by CEDS and others, similar enhancement opportunities may exist at a fourth to half of the thousands of existing stormwater BMPs. As shown in the Elkhorn lake enhancement actions graph below, ensuring that all existing BMPs are fully functioning can be THE most effective first step towards improving river and lake quality.

The other options in the graph above are also relatively inexpensive and can be quickly implemented. 

CEDS Lake Quality Enhancement Assistance 

There are several ways in which CEDS can help you to preserve and enhance your lake.

Guidance Publications & Training Presentations

You will find a number of free guidance documents on the CEDS publications webpage under the headings of:

There are also a number of free narrated PowerPoint presentation on the CEDS YouTube channel.

Volunteer Recruitment & Training

In addition to the free assistance described above, we can help you recruit volunteers using methods such as those described at the CEDS Mobilizing Public Support for Preserving Neighborhoods webpage. From having helped hundreds of communities throughout the U.S. preserve lakes, other aquatic resources, and neighborhoods, CEDS has developed inexpensive, yet highly effective methods for identifying then mobilizing and training those most likely to volunteer.

For a fee we can help you develop a volunteer recruitment strategy then put on training programs. Since the fee varies depending upon a number of factors, contact CEDS at 410-654-3021 or Help@ceds.org to discuss this option.

Lake Quality Watershed Audit

If you wish CEDS can carry out an in-depth analysis of opportunities to enhance river or lake quality through a watershed audit like the following two examples :

The fee to prepare a watershed audit, including a detailed analysis of lake enhancement options such as that presented in the graph above, varies depending upon a number of factors. To discuss how a similar audit might benefits a river or lake quality, contact CEDS at 410-654-3021 or Help@ceds.org to discuss this option.

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