YOUR HELP IS NEEDED |
Lake data monitoring is continuing, but we need additional assistance to take water purity measurements. Please contact us through call, text, or email if you can assist next summer. All data is posted to the DNR website and can be viewed as a chart or a graph online for you to view:
CLICK HERE |
Burning Litter & Leaves
Who doesn’t enjoy sitting around a campfire or a backyard bonfire from time to time? But depending upon “where” the fire is burning, “what” materials are in the fire, and how well the remaining “ashes” from the fire are contained, it can damage our Lake’s habitat.
Typical pollutants from burn barrels or fire rings include dioxins, ash, furans (organic compounds), halogenated hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, lead, barium, chromium, cadmium, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, arsenic or mercury. These burns may also emit acid vapors and carcinogenic tars, depending upon what’s being burned.
Pound for pound, garbage burned in a barrel or fire ring gives off twice as many furans, 17 times as much dioxin, and 40 times as much ash as a municipal incinerator. For example, a 1997 EPA study showed that two or more “households” burning garbage produces as much dioxin as a “200 ton/day municipal incinerator” operating with air pollution controls. Also, municipal incinerators operate at 2,200 degrees F to insure complete combustion. Burn barrels or fire rings emit more pollutants because they operate at relatively low temperatures (400-500 degrees F), resulting in incomplete combustion of the wastes being burned. The residual ash from this incomplete combustion is very high in phosphorus and is left behind in the barrel or fire ring. These ashes can blow into land and waters, and can cause many problems (irritate eyes and throat, restrict visibility, lung damage, bronchitis, emphysema, lung cancer, and affect people with asthma or certain allergies). Ash also contains heavy metals that may seep into groundwater or lakes and rivers and create higher phosphorus levels.
Nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are needed for plankton and algal growth - plants that form the food base for fish. Dissolved oxygen is a basic requirement for healthy aquatic ecosystems and most fish and aquatic insects breathe oxygen dissolved in the water. The ability of water to hold oxygen is changed when these additional nutrients change the temperature and makeup of the water. For example, higher phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations in surface waters increase the growth of organisms such as algae and duckweed (aquatic plants that decrease light penetration and decrease amounts of dissolved oxygen in the water). Larger fish die when oxygen levels fall too far. Fine particles that don't settle out can get stuck in the ventricles of fish. This can also lead to fish kills.
So what can we all do to prevent degradation in our lake? It’s quite simple and easy to do: LOCATE FIRE PITS AT LEAST 50 FEET FROM THE LAKE, AND REMOVE ASH FROM THE FIRE PIT! If the fire pit is located near the lake, rain can wash the ashes into the lake. Locate the fire pit at least 50 feet away from the lake; and, remove ashes from the fire pit to prevent the phosphorus-loaded ashes from being blown or washed into the lake. Every action we take makes a difference if we all take these simple precautions!
Typical pollutants from burn barrels or fire rings include dioxins, ash, furans (organic compounds), halogenated hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, lead, barium, chromium, cadmium, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, arsenic or mercury. These burns may also emit acid vapors and carcinogenic tars, depending upon what’s being burned.
Pound for pound, garbage burned in a barrel or fire ring gives off twice as many furans, 17 times as much dioxin, and 40 times as much ash as a municipal incinerator. For example, a 1997 EPA study showed that two or more “households” burning garbage produces as much dioxin as a “200 ton/day municipal incinerator” operating with air pollution controls. Also, municipal incinerators operate at 2,200 degrees F to insure complete combustion. Burn barrels or fire rings emit more pollutants because they operate at relatively low temperatures (400-500 degrees F), resulting in incomplete combustion of the wastes being burned. The residual ash from this incomplete combustion is very high in phosphorus and is left behind in the barrel or fire ring. These ashes can blow into land and waters, and can cause many problems (irritate eyes and throat, restrict visibility, lung damage, bronchitis, emphysema, lung cancer, and affect people with asthma or certain allergies). Ash also contains heavy metals that may seep into groundwater or lakes and rivers and create higher phosphorus levels.
Nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are needed for plankton and algal growth - plants that form the food base for fish. Dissolved oxygen is a basic requirement for healthy aquatic ecosystems and most fish and aquatic insects breathe oxygen dissolved in the water. The ability of water to hold oxygen is changed when these additional nutrients change the temperature and makeup of the water. For example, higher phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations in surface waters increase the growth of organisms such as algae and duckweed (aquatic plants that decrease light penetration and decrease amounts of dissolved oxygen in the water). Larger fish die when oxygen levels fall too far. Fine particles that don't settle out can get stuck in the ventricles of fish. This can also lead to fish kills.
So what can we all do to prevent degradation in our lake? It’s quite simple and easy to do: LOCATE FIRE PITS AT LEAST 50 FEET FROM THE LAKE, AND REMOVE ASH FROM THE FIRE PIT! If the fire pit is located near the lake, rain can wash the ashes into the lake. Locate the fire pit at least 50 feet away from the lake; and, remove ashes from the fire pit to prevent the phosphorus-loaded ashes from being blown or washed into the lake. Every action we take makes a difference if we all take these simple precautions!