Place: Mesilat Zion Reservoir, Israel
Date: July 2015
Rationale
Our previous trials established that a floating, slow-releasing algaecide is significantly more effective in controlling cyanobacterial blooms than the same compounds in their generic formulations. As a next step, BlueGreen Water Technologies set out to evaluate the usability of the Lake Guard™ as an effective delivery mechanism that would overcome limitations of existing algaecides and allow their cost-effective application irrespective of size or scale of the treated water body.
Trial Setup
The trial was designed in collaboration with “Mekorot” – the Israeli National Water Company in a 60,000 m2 (15 acres) wastewater reservoir.
Trial Protocol
300 Kg of Lake Guard™ were distributed over the reservoir from an airplane. The pilot was instructed to unload the algaecide over the entire surface of the water.
Results and Discussion
The entire aerial application took ~10 minutes.
Within 30 minutes after the compound was sprayed over the water surface, the entire load of the algaecide could be observed traveling with the currents alongside cyanobacterial aggregations, as shown in the figure below.
It was concluded that an even application over a wide surface area is not necessary because naturally occurring currents distribute the Lake Guard™ optimally in the same spatial formations as the cyanobacteria. It was further concluded that an aerial application would only be required in large-scale applications of more than 5 km2 or in case of very difficult approach conditions. Smaller waterbodies can easily be treated manually either from a boat or from the shore.
