Waste Buildup in Chapman Lakes

14 Jan 2014

All bodies of water will accumulate a certain amount of organic material on the pond or lake floor. Organic material comes from dead leaves, weeds/algae, fish waste, and duck debris. Maintenance doses of beneficial pond bacteria should be used to keep the buildup to a minimum.

However, some lakes and ponds have a source of organic material so excessive that maintenance doses may not be able to keep up. Examples of this type of buildup are ponds surrounded by large trees and lakes like Northeast Indiana's Chapman Lakes with Mute Swans. Trees surrounding a pond will dump tons of leaves into the pond every fall. This material becomes thick organic material on the pond floor. The situation on Chapman Lakes is a little different.

Mute Swan populations have increased 32% from the previous year on Chapman Lakes. This population continues to grow because there is no open hunting season, they have no natural predators, they live up to 30 years in the wild and adult females lay more than 6 eggs during a breeding season. Mute Swans have now been classified as an invasive species and can be dangerous to pets and people.

As if being dangerous isn't enough, adult Mute Swans consume up to 8 pounds of aquatic plant life daily; as a result, they release 5-6 pounds of waste back into the lake daily. This waste gets deposited onto the lake floor at the rate of approximately 1 ton per adult per year.

This increase in waste can make lake floors shallow over time and cause an increase in algae and weed growth. Muck Doctor is a concentrated beneficial bacteria used in ponds and lakes to keep dead leaves, fish waste, dead algae/weeds, and other organic material from building up. Muck Doctor is 100% safe with no restrictions on water usage. For more information on Muck Doctor contact Sanco.