Restoring Eutrophic Lake in India with Bubble Tubing® Aeration

Mandate

The restoration of the hyper-eutrophic Pushkar lake in India, using our Bubble Tubing^®, followed the fish kill of September 2008. This case study was provided by our client Randhawa Brosons Enterprises, the company in charge of this restoration project.

Pushkar is a small town of about 14,000 people. The total size of Pushkar Lake is 4.5 hectares. In 2008 Pushkar Lake was on average 2 m deep of water, with 1-2 m of benthic muck!

The reason for this astronomical amount of bottom muck can be found in the lake’s history. Pushkar Lake is one of the most sacred lakes of the Hindu Religion; references to this lake can be found on coins as early as the 4th century BC! Being one of the oldest currently inhabited cities in India, it is safe to say that food offerings have been made into the lake for thousands of years. It is no surprise that the sediment layer has been growing at a very steady state in this lake.

Thus, the solution had to be engineered to prevent stirring this thick layer of organic benthic material containing toxic components.

If stirred, the suspended sediments would have drastically reduced the already poor water quality.

Solution

To create a solution that would increase the Dissolved Oxygen while not churning the benthic material at the bottom of the lake, 600 ft of Bubble Tubing^® was used as the main aeration diffusion technology.

Post aeration, no report was received of people falling ill after drinking the water or bathing in the lake, whick was common before. More so, the visibility of the water cleared up dramatically after a few months, to where one could see the sandy bottom. Before aeration, one could not see an inch into the water due to pollution and cyanobacteria. The local people, priest, pilgrims, and tourists, all enjoyed the newly aerated Pushkar Lake, as it did not smell of sewage, nor did it smell of anaerobic digestion.

You will find in this case study:

• Full presentation of the project and history of Pushkar Lake;
• Parameters of the water quality before aeration;
• Description of solution and products used;
• Before and after pictures;
• Test results reports;
• An appreciation letter signed by the government, the Municipality Customer and the Congress Party of Pushkar.

Read the complete case study (PDF) here: Restoring eutrophic lake via Bubble Tubing^® aeration

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