Barry is a retired environmental engineer.

Barry did a significant amount of research into nanobubbler. As an environmental engineer, he was able to ask questions we never would have. This is the info he provided. 

There seems to be agreement that watershield and muck are problems that we want to solve, but questions remain about whether nanobubbler technology will work and cost.  I’d like to offer some insights from the perspective of someone who studied lakes at UW-Madison for my Masters and Doctorate degrees, and who has been digging into nanobubbler technology since our membership meeting.

Will it work?  There is every reason to expect nanobubblers to work for both watershield and muck

• Watershield and muck are problems because stuff is growing and dying in the lake faster than it can be decomposed.

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• Out of control growth of watershield and other vegetation occurs because phosphorus is fertilizing the lake.  We can’t do a lot about this because we don’t control how non-association members use their property.  Even if we could, a lot of phosphorus enters the lake each fall from our tree leaves.
• Nanobubblers speed up decomposition by pumping oxygen (from air) into the lake.

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• Regular aerators have the right idea, but their bubbles are so large that they float to the surface before all the oxygen enters the water.
• Nanobubbles are hundreds of times smaller, giving them plenty of time to enter the water and accelerate decomposition.
• In other words, nanobubblers get rid of the muck.
• Watershield is rooted in the muck.  Get rid of the muck, it is no longer anchored to the bottom and the floating plants die.  This has been seen in other lakes for other types of vegetation and the same be true in our case.
• There is every reason to expect nanobubblers to work for watershield and muck, but we don’t know how fast it will work.  Many lakes report positive results within weeks-months, but it depends on many things, including how much oxygen is pumped in and the flow patterns in the lake.  In our case, the test unit is pumping regular air into the lake.  There is another enriched version works 3-4 times faster, by pumping oxygen enriched air into the lake.  Partridge Lake does not have a river continually flushing it out, so this may slow things somewhat. 

Cost and affordability?  No one can answer this question at this time

• There are many ways to use the technology.  We know that it will cost more if we want faster results and treat the entire lake, but we do not have to treat the whole lake.  There are portable versions that could be moved from location to location, and placed where most needed.  Once that area is under control, it can be moved elsewhere.   The test will help us decide what we need for Partridge Lake.

 

Hope this sheds some light on the technology.

Barry

Barry Verdegan, Ph.D.