Lakes in Lake County, Illinois, will benefit from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds if the new Lake County Lake Lovers group succeeds. Following the steps outlined in a 3-part series shared earlier in H2O Global News, the citizens initiative proposed a bio-dredging demonstration and Lake Oxygen scorecard to place Lake County’s lakes on a path to restoration.
Lake County Lake Lovers was formed as a working group within the Global Water Works online collaboration network last July. Their goal is to restore Lake County’s lakes by educating citizens on a multi-level treatment process that successfully eradicates algae and muck problems in lakes across the globe. Recent beach closures and fish die-offs have contributed to the group’s motivation and that of County decision makers.
Lake Lovers Focused on Impact
The Lake Lover approach aligns with the recommendations of the 2022 Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report, “Water Quality: Agencies should take more actions to manage risks of Hypoxia and Harmful Algae Blooms,” which emphasized the need for a comprehensive program to not only monitor but to treat impaired lakes. And the Lake Lovers are recommending the multi-level approach advanced by Wayne Carmichael, PhD, founder of the International Conference on Toxic Cyanobacteria, using a comprehensive program of dissolved oxygen and enzymes to restore the natural food web and accelerate nutrient consumption. Success stories using this process were the focus of Dr. Carmichael’s 2022 Keynote at ICTC. The GAO also suggested using a scorecard to compare different bodies of water and prioritize interventions, so a scorecard was included in the proposal to track oxygen levels, a leading indicator of lake health.
Measurement Key to Management
“You can’t manage what you can’t measure, and what you measure needs to be easy to understand and act upon,” says Lake County Lake Lover Chairman Mark O’Brien. “When we looked at the GAO report, which notes that the last 20 years have been focused on measurement without action, we felt we were onto something, being able to deliver both an apples-to-apples measurement mechanism based on oxygen levels and a means for countywide assessment, treatment, and visibility into the health of our lakes.”
Three separate briefings in the county suggest wide-spread support for the solution. Current challenges with beach closures and fish die offs likely contributed to a unanimous show of support (by the raised hands) when asked whether or not the leaders would recommend the county’s investment.
A final decision by the Lake County committee is expected by its July 28, 2023 meeting. Members of the Lake County Lake Lover group are hopeful they will receive funding for their initial program because their approach is more cost effective and environmentally protective than current water treatment programs. The effects of their water treatment approach also provides long lasting results.
Readers of H2O Global News can follow the developments with the Lake Lover Group and use their promotional materials as templates for your own local efforts.
Mary Conley Eggert is the founder of GobalWaterWorks.org, a 501c3 with the mission of solving water issue locally to scale globally. In its eight years, GlobalWaterWorks.org has connected thousands of people, process and technologies to solve water issues around the globe.
