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
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•
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
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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
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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???