Benefits of Lake Restoration
There are numerous benefits to restoring lakes. Lakes provide habitat for wildlife, help regulate the climate in an area, and can even produce power. Here are some reasons why communities should pay more attention to lake restoration, as Karina Lakefront Maintenance explains.
What is Lake Restoration?
Lake restoration is the process of restoring lakes back to their natural state. This can be done by removing or decreasing pollutants in water systems which improves water quality significantly while also increasing biodiversity, fish populations, and property values for humans living around these areas.
The benefits of water restoration are numerous—which makes it an important process for people all around the world. These aquatic systems provide humans with drinking water, food supplies, and other resources. Thus, it is important that restoration efforts are made around the world to ensure people can continue to use these valuable ecosystems for years to come.
Benefits of Lake Restoration
Reduction of Flood Risk
Flooding is one of the biggest risks in many communities around the world. However, this risk of flooding can be reduced by restoring lakes through re-floodplains and other means. Restoring lake systems decreases flood risk because it ensures water flows out of a river system at a slower rate which reduces flooding downstream. This is beneficial for many people because flooding can harm property and if the water flow is too fast, it could collapse homes.
Decrease in Phosphorus Levels, Nitrogen Levels, and Algal Blooms
Many lakes and rivers around the world have high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. In turn, high levels of these nutrients can cause harmful algae blooms, which then cause the water to become more green than blue in color. These algal blooms are not only unappealing, but they also harm wildlife by killing off fish populations while decreasing biodiversity. Fortunately, restoring a lake system can reduce the levels of these nutrients thereby decreasing harmful algal blooms.
Eutrophication is a process that occurs when lakes become oversaturated with nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which causes algae to grow rapidly due to a lack of oxygen. This rapid algae growth kills off fish and other wildlife, but it also decreases the quality of drinking water for humans. Restoring a lake system can decrease eutrophication because lakes are being restored to their original state before they become oversaturated with nutrients—meaning that there will be less algae present in these systems after restoration occurs.
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Decrease in Water Temperature
Due to global warming, water temperature around the world is increasing. This increase in water temperature not only decreases biodiversity but it also makes aquatic systems inhospitable for certain species of fish and other animals living within these ecosystems. Fortunately, lake restoration can decrease a body of water’s overall temperature through restoring wetlands which helps lower water temperature.
Increased Property Values
When the quality of a lake system decreases, it can affect property values and cause them to decrease too. However, when lakes are restored back to their natural state, they begin to improve in both appearance and function. Property value can then be increased for people living near these areas, or people living lakefront. Furthermore, lake restoration allows people to enjoy more activities around water once again after harmful algal blooms decrease under restored conditions.
Increased Fish Populations and Water Quality
When lakes are restored, fish populations begin to increase because they have more water than before—which means that there is enough oxygen for them to thrive. Furthermore, the quality of drinking water generally increases when lake systems are restored back to their natural state which benefits humans living near these areas significantly.
Sediment Management
When lakes are restored, sediment is removed or decreased which decreases the amount of water pollution. This results in cleaner and safer drinking water as well as better fishing. Lake sediment is especially important because it can affect the amount of fish and other wildlife that live in these ecosystems.
Increased Biodiversity
Many lake restoration projects focus on restoring native species to their natural habitat because they were once abundant there before humans caused them to become extinct through hunting and other activities. One example of a project that focuses on restoring native species is the Lake Victoria Project, which aims to restore over 20 different fish populations as well as hundreds of plant and animal species.
Increasing biodiversity is important because it helps lower extinction rates and increase overall species diversity in a given ecosystem. Restoring native species not only increases biodiversity, but it also benefits humans by providing them with more food sources such as fish or other animals.
Macrophyte Control
Macrophytes are plants that grow in or around water. They can be either native species or invasive plant species, but they harm lake systems when their populations become too abundant because the macrophytes begin to take over space where other organisms can thrive—such as fish and other wildlife. Restoring a lake system allows humans to better control these macrophytes, which results in more fish and wildlife thriving around these areas.
Conclusion
Lake restoration is beneficial for so many reasons. For example, water quality can be increased when lakes are restored back to their natural state which results in better drinking water and healthier ecosystems. Furthermore, restoring a lake system allows native species that were once abundant to be restored.
