Fish Kills

1
Fish Kills

• Ryan Engleking, Nathan Jenkins,
• Bill McQuinn, John Michel

2
Sources of Polluted Runoff

• Farm Land
• Fertilizers
• Animal Waste
• Erosion
• Pesticides
• Litter
• Removal of streamside vegetation

3
Sources of Polluted Runoff

• Managed Greenspace (Golf Courses, and Parks)
• Fertilizers, Herbicides, Pesticides
• Animal Waste
• Erosion from exposed areas
• Litter
• Removal of streamside vegetation

4
Sources of runoff

• Commercial and Industrial
• Acid Rain, automotive exhaust
• Malfunctioning/overloaded septic systems and
  lagoons
• Construction sites, roadside erosion
• Industrial pollutants
• Litter, illegal dumping
• Heated Runoff, removal of streamside vegetation

5
Sources of Polluted Runoff

• Residential
• Fertilizers
• Malfunctioning septic systems
• Construction, erosion from lawns and gardens
• Household products
• Litter, illegal dumping
• Heated runoff, removal of streamside vegetation

6
Three Tiered Strategy

• Natural Resource Based Planning -
  
• used to minimize runoff, pollutants, and impacts
  on natural resources by locating development in
  non-sensitive areas and by providing protection
  for critical natural resources

7
Improved Site Design

• Reduces the amount of runoff and pollutants
  resulting from development.
• Reducing the amount of impervious pavement in new
  developments and routing water to natural areas
  and filter strips where water can slowly
  percolate into the soil are also effective ways
  to reduce the impact of new development.

8
Remediation

• Can be employed to mitigate the impact of
  development when proper siting and design of
  development are not sufficient to control runoff
  and pollutants resulting from development.
• Ex.- Retention basins, constructed wetlands, and
  percolation areas

9
Solutions to the Problem

• Improved Site Designs
• Use of Best Management Practices
• Properly dispose of trash, debris, and chemicals
• Properly apply fertilizers and chemicals
• Inspect septic system
• Dispose of animal waste
• Implement soil cover
• Develop Manure Management Plans (MMP)

10
White River Fish Kill

• In December 1999 the White River in Madison
  county was polluted near Anderson.
• An unknown pollutant passed though the Anderson
  water treatment plant and entered the White
  River.
• Polluted a 50 mile stretch from Anderson to
  Indianapolis.

11
White River fish kill contd

• By the spring of 2000, 117 ton of dead fish
• An estimated total loss of 187 ton or 4.6 million
  fish.

12
Fish killed percentages
13
Cost of White River Fish Kill

• Guide Corp. (subsidiary of General Motors and
  Delco Electronics) had to pay a 14 million
  settlement
• Guide Corp. was found to have released 1,610,000
  gallons of improperly treated wastewater into
  sewers that led to the Anderson treatment plant,
  damaging the plant and killing at least 100 tons
  of fish and aquatic life

14
Dead Fish
15
Fish Kills Lack of Oxygen

• Fish kills in ponds and small lakes usually occur
  during the summer and winter.
• Usually caused by low oxygen levels in the water
• The best way to prevent fish kills is good pond
  management.

16
Low Oxygen Summer Kills

• Increase in water temperature
• Causes water to loses its capacity to hold
  oxygen
• Cold-blooded fish become more active and require
  more oxygen to stay healthy
• Aquatic Vegetation

17
Aquatic Plants

• Aquatic plants are considered beneficial to ponds
  and lakes because the produce oxygen.
• But
• As the amount of sunlight decreases plants use
  more oxygen than they produce
• Decomposing vegetation requires oxygen
• Oxygen levels are lowest just before sunrise and
  after extended periods of cloudy weather

18
Low Oxygen Winter Kills

• Vegetation continues to produce oxygen as long as
  sunlight is available even below several inches
  of clear ice
• Days are shorter less sunlightless oxygen
  produced by the aquatic plant
• Snow on the ice will block nearly all light from
  the water and plants and take oxygen from the
  water

19
Increase Oxygen in Water

• Use an aerator to add oxygen in summer months to
  insure that fish have adequate oxygen levels
• Pump sprays water into the air adding oxygen
• Boat Motor/Propeller turns water and introduce
  oxygen to water molecules
• Remove snow from areas of the pond so that light
  can penetrate the ice and reach the plants
• Manage Aquatic Vegetation

20
Sources

• www.lake-aeration.com
• www.agcom.purdue.edu/AgCom/Pubs/menu.htm
• www.planningwithpower.org
• http//www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/innews/Indianakill20
  02.htm
• http//www.ikecoalition.org/White_River_Fish_Kill_
  1999/whiteriver.htm
• http//www2.indystar.com/library/factfiles/environ
  ment/white_river/fish_kill.html