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Board
soaks up
options for cleaning Lake Ellyn
Glen Ellyn Sun
- 8/1
Scanning
the surface of Lake Ellyn, it doesn't appear that there is anything
wrong with the water. It's a little murky maybe, but it is perfectly
safe to fish in. If you happen to go under during the Great Cardboard
Boat Regatta, it's just fine to sink in too.
There is, however, always room for improvement.
At its regular meeting Monday, the Glen Ellyn Village Board approved
a $50,000 contract with Rezek, Henry Consulting Engineers of Libertyville
to study ways to enhance the quality of Lake Ellyn's water. The
project is being funded by the $2 million anonymous donation made
to the village in December 2001.
Lake Ellyn takes in two-thirds of the village's storm-sewer water,
and with it all of the salt and sediment it finds along the way.
"It's
basically dirty water going in there that makes it not very clear,"
said Dave Scarmardo, superintendent of parks for the Park District,
the entity that oversees Lake Ellyn.
In addition to general pollution problems, the influx of salt
into the water has decreased the ice-skating season. The water
takes longer to freeze and when it does, the ice is sometimes
only two inches thick.
If a layer of snow falls over it, district employees cannot bring
their equipment onto the ice to clear it. The snow insulates the
ice, keeping it only at 32 degrees when it needs to be colder.
The engineering study will provide cost estimates for two lake-cleaning
options.
The first possibility would be to install a piping system at the
lake's three inlets. The pipes would help control the "first
flush" of debris, rerouting it to the lake's outlet area.
Another alternative to be studied is the use of vortex separators.
According to Scarmardo, this essentially involves a large pipe
in the ground that uses centrifugal force to circulate incoming
water. Any foreign elements will be separated to the top by a
screen.
"Anything
bigger than a grain of sand is going to be caught by this screen,"
Scarmardo said.
While those will help improve the overall quality of the water,
it doesn't necessarily mean the water will look better.
"It's
not for water clarity at all," he said.
Scarmardo said one of the chief reasons for the murky water is
the existence of the goldfish in the lake. Down from the 300,000
goldfish thatpopulated the lake in the early 1990s, the fish still
pose a problem today. They feed on the bottom of the lake, which
stirs up the muck, he said.
A recent test conducted last year found only 12 goldfish in the
lake over three days. They will probably never be entirely eliminated
from the water because they reproduce fast and are brought downstream
from retention ponds at nearby developments, Scarmardo said. Also,
people will sometimes discard unwanted goldfish in the lake, which
augments the problem, he said.
Village President Greg Mathews said he is not sure which route
the board will choose to clean the water. Essentially, it depends
on the cost, he said.
"If
it's going to use up too much of the funds, we may be forced to
drop one of the concepts," he said.
Regardless of what action the village board takes, the Park District
is planning to install bubblers that help oxygenate the water.
Adding oxygen provides better habitat for fish and reduces algae.
The price for each bubbling system ranges between $2,000 and $4,000.
Scarmardo said, because of the size of the lake, four bubblers
will be installed probably after May 2004.
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