BEACHES OR BACTERIA?
Evolving science, persistence could make this green jewel more than a haven for ducks
Ray Menard, who operates a pond- and lake-water management company called Algae Control Canada, says there are proven techniques available that would allow the city to rehabilitate the algae-infested, e.coli-tainted lake in Hawrelak Park.
Drinking a morning coffee by the lake in Hawrelak Park this week was a cute but rather disgusting affair.
Fuzzy ducklings stole my heart — leaping high to plunge their buoyant little bodies underwater. But the goose poop was revolting. Also, the park was dead. Without a festival, there was barely a soul in sight.
This is what’s become of this jewel of the river valley — the masterpiece of an English country park opened for Canada’s centennial in 1967. Now it’s goose-infested. The small beach is blocked off by a tall black fence, warning visitors away from a bath in the blue-green algae, E.coli-tainted water.
The huge space is often empty, except on warm weekends when families gather at the picnic areas or if there is an event.
Like many Edmonton residents, I gave up on the lake in Hawrelak Park as anything more than an untouchable duck pond. I believed fixing the lake was too complicated, too expensive for Edmonton to tackle. After all, the idea has been explored and rejected at least twice since 1998. But when I started writing about ideas for new beaches in Whitecourt and Red Deer, Ray Menard, a local water quality entrepreneur, convinced me to give it a second chance.
That’s why I sat with Menard Monday morning, staring across the greenish-brown water, wondering if I dare to dream.
It just so happens, now is the perfect time to be dreaming.
The whole park is aging. Irrigation and utility systems will fail soon and city officials say a full rehabilitation project will cost between $30 million and
$60 million. They’ve set aside $4 million for planning and design, which begins this fall.
So do we want to make the lake suitable for fish? What about clean enough for children to try kayaking, without worrying too much if they flip? And that beach. I’d love to see an accessible patch of sand. It would be sad to spend $60 million just to keep things as is.
Menard is a former banker who started a fish farm with family 20 years ago. They got their start on private ponds, installing aeration systems and using natural bacterial pellets to consume the nutrient-rich sludge on the bottom. Now they work on stormwater ponds and urban parks as well.
The science is fascinating and has evolved rapidly as cities, especially in the United States, push hard for solutions. One of the most effective techniques in small lakes involves aerators on the lake bed, which circulates the water from bottom to top constantly, introducing higher oxygen levels. That supports fish and the bacteria that break down algae and plant matter.
Adding helpful bacteria can speed up that process. It also shifts the ecology of the lake so it no longer supports blue-green algae, which is toxic to dogs and children. Every lake needs a unique treatment plan, but Menard says he’s seen bacteria treatments work so well, in one lake the critters consumed a foot of sludge a month.
Menard looked over the lake Monday morning, itching to help. “Who is going to want to come?” he said, glancing at the fenced beach and the goose poop. “This is not a wildlife park; it’s a city park. City parks are supposed to let people use them and instead it’s become a preserve for geese and we’ve got a water body we can’t even interact with.”
“Water is important to human beings. We get a lot of peace from being around water, a lot of joy and happiness.”
But if Edmonton officials have investigated this before, why believe Menard now? Well, he’s getting a track record. Jim Allan, volunteer lake manager with the Red Deer Fish and Game Association, worked with him to revive their eight-hectare “scuzzy slough” in central Alberta.
It cost about $25,000 for five aerators in 2012, and roughly $18,000 annually for electricity, bacteria, some dye to reduce sunlight penetration and for young fish. But “it’s really paid off,” says Allan. Members now marvel at the beauty and high school students on field trips haul out five pounders.
Fixing the 5.5-hectare Hawrelak lake would be more expensive because it’s getting fertilizer run-off from the surrounding grass. But these aren’t ridiculous dollar figures.
The City of Lethbridge fixed Henderson Lake for roughly a half-million dollars. It’s an urban lake like Hawrelak but five times larger.
Dorte Koster, senior aquatic scientist with Associated Environmental, says she’s “optimistic” Hawrelak could be fixed up. It would cost roughly $70,000 to map where the overabundance of nutrients come from and create a plan.
As for the geese, there’s no easy solution. Other cities have seen success by introducing several metres of vegetation along sections of the bank, patrolling beaches and lawns periodically with large dogs and sterilizing eggs with natural oils in the spring (a project Edmonton already started).
So should we dream? I’d say Hawrelak Park is a grand old dame and her lake deserves a second chance.