limnological-solutions-international

Science and Art come together!

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 21:49:26 GMT

LSi’s Said Yasseri was recently invited to participate in a round table discussion at the Kunsthaus in Hamburg, Germany. The event was hosted by Ann-Marie Melster, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Artport Project ( ARTPORT-making waves: Education Climate Action Social Change ).

The event featured artworks by the students of the Ida Ehre school in Hamburg which focussed on the theme of ‘water protection’. Each student was given the opportunity to speak briefly about his or her artwork and its relationship with water in the environment. Afterwards, the students took part in the round table discussion where they had the chance to express their own concerns about climate change, the deteriorating state of the world’s water resources, and the actions needed to address the situation.

UK's largest lake - Dying in plain sight?

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 08:41:38 GMT

Recent article from the Guardian newspaper further highlights the ever increasing health issues of Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland

Much has been written about the dire state of Lough Neagh over the last couple of years. This article from Tommy Greene for The Guardian newspaper is just the latest. - ‘Like the flip of a switch, it’s gone’: has the ecosystem of the UK’s largest lake collapsed? | Northern Ireland | The Guardian

Like a mirror scenario of so many freshwater bodies around the world, the ever increasing levels of eutrophication that have been affecting Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland for decades appear to be coming to a head.

Urbanisation – and particularly agricultural run-off, have created an excess of nutrients into the water body which in turn encourages the proliferation of blue green algae (cyanobacteria) particularly during the warmer months, subsequently having a negative effect on the whole ecosystem of the lake. Year on year, these levels of excess nutrients have been steadily increasing. How much longer before the ecosystem of the UK's largest lake collapses?

Links to some of the other recent news articles on Lough Neagh;-

Lough Neagh: How climate change intensified toxic algae on the UK’s largest lake - Carbon Brief

Lough Neagh ‘dying in plain sight’ due to vast algal blooms | Northern Ireland | The Guardian

Stormont hears calls for new management structure to protect Lough Neagh | East London and West Essex Guardian Series (guardian-series.co.uk)

Lough Neagh: Year-long investigation exposes serious issues with management of the lake - Investigations & Analysis - Northern Ireland from The Detail

Worst-ever contamination of Ireland’s largest lake: What’s to blame? | Explainer News | Al Jazeera

Minister Muir pledges urgent action on Lough Neagh | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (daera-ni.gov.uk)

‘The lough isn’t just dying, it’s been killed’: How Lough Neagh reached crisis point – The Irish Times

Home - Lough Neagh Partnership

Life on the Lough - A short film depicting life in and around Lough Neagh (youtube.com)

Evaluating new P binders

Thu, 01 Jun 2023 10:24:38 GMT

Evaluating new P binders

We're looking forward to working with Wageningen University in the Netherlands and the University of Southern Denmark in a project aimed at evaluating new P binders. There has been a lot of activity in this space recently and a range of new products are starting to appear on the market.

As these products emerge, it’s important that they undergo rigorous testing so that they can be evaluated both in terms of effectiveness and safety. Together with researchers from the two universities, LSI will be testing a total of eight new products from three different companies in coming months.

Once the study is complete, the results will be published with the aim of helping lake managers to make informed decisions as they consider restoration options.

Improving water quality at the Klein Strand Jabbeke in Belgium

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 08:56:22 GMT

Restoring a small recreational lake

Great to see the measures LSI recommended to improve water quality at the Klein Strand Jabbeke in Belgium being implemented fully this week. The lake which is located just outside the historical city of Bruges is part of a very popular holiday park and has had ongoing issues with blooms of blue green algae as a result of high phosphorus levels in the lake. Following a comprehensive study of the lake and its sediments earlier this year, LSI recommended a suite of measures be undertaken, including the removal of bottom feeding fish and the application of a P binder (Phoslock). The works which are being undertaken by partners from Belgium (Aquatic Engineers) and the Netherlands (Kooistra) started earlier in the week and are due to be completed by Friday. The owners of the lake are looking forward to improved water quality during the upcoming summer season.

UN 2023 Water Conference, 22nd - 24th March

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 08:25:00 GMT

Time to focus on one of the world's most serious challenges

With ‘ World Water Day ’ (…”about accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis”…taking place this week (22 ^nd March 2023), an article in the UK’s Guardian newspaper clearly illustrates a major challenge the world is sooner or later going to have to get to grips with - Global fresh water demand will outstrip supply by 40% by 2030, say experts | Water | The Guardian

In this same week (22 ^nd – 24 ^th March) the UN 2023 Water Conference is also taking place - the first time in over 40 years that the UN is meeting to discuss water, which alone should ring alarm bells and wake people up. The World Health Organisation themselves declare this upcoming conference “ …is the most important UN hosted event on water supply, sanitation and hygiene have for the health of people on the planet ”

“Turning the Tide a call to collective action” – a report by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water has just been published prior to the start of the conference.

Until now, there seems to have been reluctance on the part of Governments to accept any form of international governance of this most basic but universally essential resource. But wise heads need to get together and politics put aside if we are to put a stop to the ever-deteriorating state of the world’s water supplies. It seems after all that we are far more interdependent upon one another than we might like to believe.

River Oder saga continues...

Wed, 02 Nov 2022 10:55:12 GMT

Disagreement and blame continue to hamper investigation into root cause of River Oder ecological tragedy

Several months on, and the ‘tit-for-tat’ reports from the German and Polish authorities over who should take responsibility for the cause of the pollution, natural or otherwise, that caused massive fish kills in the River Oder back in the summer have still not provided a clear and conclusive insight into the root cause of this environmental tragedy.

Whilst thankfully, the worst seems to have passed for now, unless an agreed consensus is reached as to what triggered the major fish kill in the first place and appropriate steps are taken, then there will always be the risk, likelihood even, that an incident like this will happen again.

Referring to it remaining a ‘mystery’ is perhaps the most diplomatic way the journalists can describe the opposing arguments from both sides.

Hopefully however, sooner, rather than later, further investigation and comprehensive test results from the dead fish and other organisms along various sections of the river Oder from both the German and the Polish authorities will finally allow both sides to agree upon the overriding cause of this major fish kill.

Click on the links below to read some of the news reports on this as yet, unresolved story.

Politico Poland and Germany’s poisoned relations over Oder River fish die-off – POLITICO

NFP Polish minister warns of “fake news” spread in Germany about Oder river pollution | Notes From Poland

Reuters Rare toxic algae behind fish deaths in river Oder, say researchers | Reuters

DW Mysterious mass fish kill in Oder River expands – DW – 09/05/2022

Al Jazeera Photos: Mystery surrounds mass fish deaths in the Oder River | In Pictures News | Al Jazeera

Hurriyet Germany: No single cause for massive Oder River fish die-off (hurriyetdailynews.com)

"SIL 2022" - the International Society of Limnology's conference in Berlin

Mon, 22 Aug 2022 06:45:27 GMT

Dr Maíra Mucci, a scientific advisor to LSI and researcher at Wageningen University, recently attended “SIL 2022” – the International Society of Limnology’s conference in Berlin, Germany. In this article, Maira provides us with a short summary of some of the take home messages from this year’s conference.

“This year SIL is celebrating its first 100 years as a society and the theme of this year’s conference was “The next 100 years – Sensing & Safeguarding Inland Waters”. The conference included a number of excellent plenary sessions which highlighted both the challenges being presented to water body managers by climate change and the ongoing debate among scientists in relation to the need to control N vs P when tackling eutrophication. A consensus appears to be emerging among scientists that controlling external inputs of both N and P is critical, while the control of P is more feasible when considering in-lake measures.

The conference also highlighted the important role being played by the World Water Quality Alliance in tackling the global water crisis (click here for more info). This Alliance, which operates under the flag of the United Nations Environment Program and consists of a range of universities and research organizations, is a strong advocate of the central role of freshwater quality in achieving prosperity and sustainability.

A meeting of the SIL Working Group on Lake Restoration was also convened during the conference. This Group is also affiliated to the UNEP World Water Quality Alliance and is currently undertaking a global survey on lake restoration. The aim of the survey is to create a database of lake restoration projects and identify the causes for both the failures and the successes. The survey has been translated into five language and can be accessed here . Please feel free to fill it in and share with colleagues.

Other important topics of the conference included the importance of open access articles and the need to make data publically available wherever possible. The gender gap in limnology was also discussed by the Gender and Science SIL Group .

The conference brought together many scientists and researchers, however unfortunately not many water authorities participated, whose presence would have without doubt greatly enriched the discussion. Nonetheless, ‘SIL 2022’ provided attendees with many insights about the great challenges that lay ahead. Hopefully, we will have answers to at least some of those challenges by the time of the next conference which will be held in 2024 in Brazil.

Dr Maira Mucci fielding questions from the audience Working in the field on a recent project

Creation of wetlands to reduce phosphate levels – two projects of note…

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 16:06:24 GMT

Of the various tools available to limit the reduction of excess nutrient loads into fresh waterbodies, the carefully managed strategy of planting reeds, trees and suitable undergrowth at key points of inflow to absorb excess nutrients is one that lake managers and water authorities need to consider.

The Dümmer See in Lower Saxony, Germany has suffered high nutrient loads for decades with a number of different strategies tried with varying degrees of success, including the diverting of the ‘Bornbach’ around the lake in the 1990s.

Whilst the idea of creating a ‘reed polder’ was considered over 30 years ago as a way of reducing nutrient inputs, only recently has it been given the green light with funding allocated for the establishment of up to around 200 hectares of wetland. Read more…

https://www.nlwkn.niedersachsen.de/jb2021/duemmersanierung/dummer-gute-wachter-soll-zu-gutem-zustand-verhelfen-201163.html

Meanwhile in the UK, BBC News picked up on a new strategy implemented by Somerset West & Taunton Council to “…offset phosphate surpluses at development projects…” near Wellington in Somerset - the strategy will require developers to purchase ‘phosphate credits’ which would be used to fund the creation of wetlands ( similar to that being established at the ‘Dümmer See’, mentioned above ), to counter the likely increase in phosphorous levels when land is developed. At current levels these credits are likely to be in the region of at least £5,500 per new home. Read more in these two related articles...

Plans for Somerset wetlands to mitigate phosphate levels - BBC News

Somerset to build hundreds of homes under phosphate plan - BBC News

Welcome to Dr Frank Van Oosterhout

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 11:59:05 GMT

Netherlands - We are delighted to welcome Dr Frank Van Oosterhout of the Netherlands to our team of aquatic ecologists.

Frank has recently completed his PhD at Wageningen University and has joined LSI as a part-time freelance biologist. He brings with him a wealth of practical experience in the field of lake restoration, having worked as caretaker and on-site ecologist at Lake Rauwbraken in the Netherlands for more than 10 years.

He was a pioneer in the use of the Flock and Lock technique (combination of cyanobacterial bloom precipitation and phosphorus inactivation) and his experiences prior to, during and after Flock and Lock treatment at Rauwbraken formed the basis of his doctoral thesis (Beating the Blues with Flock and Lock).

He is the lead author on five peer-reviewed papers and co-author on a further twenty-four.

Windermere – England’s largest lake in the news.

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 11:59:04 GMT

Currently featuring heavily in UK environmental news is the ongoing pollution issues in Windermere – England’s largest lake.

There’s little doubt that action needs to be taken to remediate this problem. Left untreated, the long term Ecological and economic impacts will be devastating.

Clearly, the general consensus for explaining the ever-increasing levels of phosphates (and subsequent proliferation of harmful algal blooms) in Windermere is that raw sewage is entering the lake from storm overflows from both the wastewater treatment facility and the large number or private septic tanks around the lake during periods of heavy rainfall.

Such have the levels of concern been raised, a motion was tabled (signed by 26 MP’s) in the UK Parliament late last year asking the Government to confer power on the Environment Agency to “ensure that water companies take all reasonable steps to avoid discharging untreated sewage into inland waters within National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.”

Click on the links below to read some of the stories…

Daily Mail: Man falls ill 'after swimming in' Lake Windermere as campaigners fear effects of sewage dump | Daily Mail Online

BBC News: Windermere on verge of 'catastrophe', campaigner warns - BBC News

BBC Newsround (aimed at a younger audience this piece includes a well presented 3 minute film explaining the issues): Sewage pollution: Why has Windermere lake turned green? - CBBC Newsround

ITV News: Windermere algae blooms that can harm humans and pets sparks Lake District visitor warning | ITV News Border

UK – Canal and River Trust Invasive Species Eradication Project

Fri, 08 Jul 2022 11:59:05 GMT

In late May this year, LSI had the privilege of working with the Canal and River Trust on the Wryley and Essington Canal system in the West Midlands.

The work, which involved the collection and analysis of sediment cores from multiple locations along the length of the canal, forms part of an innovative project being undertaken by the CRT to investigate internal phosphorus release from canal sediments and its potential to influence the growth of aquatic invasive species such as Azolla.

Separately, APEM Ltd is also undertaking an external loading study.

The project will run over the course of twelve months and the results used to identify innovative management solutions for the issue of invasive species.