Beaver Lake Pollution By: Candace Lindsey

Beaver Lake Pollution

• By: Candace Lindsey

• Matt Walden

• Anton Lobov

• Chan Liang

• Josh Leigh

Beaver Lake

• Beaver Lake is considered a “Great Lake of the White River”

• It stretches some 70 miles through the Ozark Mountains and has 449 miles of shoreline

• The lake was created by a a dam across the White River in 1960.

Beaver Lake Residents

• Beaver Lake is home to many different types of animals

• The fish that inhabit the waters of Beaver Lake are Blue Catfish, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Crappie, Flathead Catfish, Hybrid Striper, Largemouth Bass, Redear Sunfish, Smallmouth Bass, Spotted Bass, Striped Bass Warmouth, White Bass

Beaver Lake Residents Cont…

• Along with these aquatic residents, Beaver Lake and its surrounding area is also home to normal Arkansas wildlife such as birds, deer, ducks, geese etc…

Beaver Lake Concerns

• Construction runoff

• Old septic systems contamination

• Light pollution

• Noise pollution

Concerns cont.

• Along with the aforementioned concerns, the lake is also polluted by boat runoff, litter and even lakeside housing pollution.

Condo Concerns

• Besides the obvious compatibility issue, major concerns include sewage disposal, surface water runoff, public safety, and infrastructure improvements.

Community Aspect

• The community is already doing many things to help the Beaver Lake environment.

• The A.B.L.E. group is actively pursuing prevention methods for the pollution of the Beaver Lake environment

A.B.L.E (About Beaver Lake Environment)

• A.B.L.E. was founded in 1980

• Forestalled the development of a 92-unit condominium project whose plans called for dumping 35,000 gallons of treated sewage into the lake everyday.

• Try to assure people that the land development of the Beaver Lake areas does not result in a lowering of the water quality of the lake or the quality of life of the animals in the ecosystem.

Course Content – Ecosystem Effects

• Pollution of things in construction sites and condominium areas can wreak havoc on the ecological balance by stimulating plant growth and causing the death of fish due to suffocation resulting from lack of oxygen. The oxygen cycle will stop, and the polluted water will also affect the animals dependant on the lake water.

• These effects can be produced from pollutants like oil, detergents, nitrogen and phosphate from fertilizers etc…

Ecosystem Effects Cont…

• The effects of these pollutants can be very damaging to an ecosystem and can sometimes be hard to reverse.

• Although these are considered minor disturbances it can still take several years to reverse.

• Nature is also very resilient and can reverse trends on its own…

Resolve the Issue

• Integrated resource planning: This approach ensures that relationships among land use, development, water flows, water quality, and aquatic ecosystems are considered prior to an area's land use designation.

• Technology: Measures to improve the quality of waste discharges and to lower both water demands and effluent loading are being implemented in response to environmental and water use concerns.

• Environmental monitoring: Monitoring of chemicals in water, sediment, and organisms helps to identify potential ecosystem problems and to track existing problems.

• Compensatory measures: For example, a fish hatchery operation can produce young fish that a disturbed habitat can no longer supply.

Problems That We Can Help With…

• In our research we determined that the problems listed above were either being taken care of or were above our heads and political savvy to affect.

• In light of this we brainstormed some more to find a way in which our impact could be felt.

Trash Cans?

• While on a trip to the lake I discovered an extreme lack of trash cans of recreation premises

• In these areas with very few trash receptacles the littering was more abundant than the areas with them

• Not only was it worse in the area directly around the receptacles, it had begun to pollute the shoreline as well, and you could even see fish trying to feed on what was in the water

Trash Cans cont…

• We also noticed that cigarette butts were also strewn about all over the grass areas

• This is a problem because if a bird were to eat them they could suffocate and die.

Solutions

• We have determined that with the fees acquired due to camping, boating and other chargeable activities, the lake board could reduce the pollution by half with the doubling of trash cans and cigarette alcoves and placing them in convenient locations.

Benefits of More Trash Cans

Implementation

• While we never heard back from the A.B.L.E group we still are pursuing their involvement

• Along with our suggestions, we have sent over this presentation in paper form hoping that they will see it and possibly respond in a beneficial manner

• Also they are holding another meeting on May the 7th and barring finals conflict I intend to attend and see if I can get our message across

Technology Used

• In this project we became more familiar with the following applications and how they may be used in research methods

• PowerPoint, Word, and the Internet

Skills Developed

• During the course of this project we developed many skills that were either new to us or ones that were not used very often

• We came together as a group and overcame differences and learned how to work as a team

• We broadened our communication skills within our group and also to sources outside it as well

• We honed our technological skills on the computer and learned how to put them into beneficial uses

• And overall we learned that given time and resources we could really make a change for the better on the Beaver Lake environment

Outcome

• Although our community contact did not come through in the allotted time period, our group has a vested interest in this project and its implementation

• We will continue to get our message across and try to implement our plan to put more trash receptacles in public areas of Beaver Lake

Questions???