Hi All
this one might end up be like another Hugh Muntz, Forest lake in Queensland, interesting part is Griffith Uni being named as a source of unbaise research. they was also mentioned in the lake Hugh Muntz articles. sounds like they are looking at 4 options but one basically already ruled out. the company added to the company blog the other day about Hugh Muntz getting good press attention. all these little one add up and can create other jobs which is good, but would still like a nice big story coming out of china
Today’s meeting about the Lake was a huge success with over 180 attending. There was no TV media, however we will be getting coverage from Quest News, and The Lake News. Malcolm Campbell started with the meeting letting us know about his experience with living on the lake and how it has deteriorated before introducing Helen Raya, a local Environmental Engineer, and Charles Strunk, our Councillor for Forest Lake Ward. Helen explained the research she has done and that there is more than one option that has to be investigated. She had been in contact with several experts in lake restoration and explained the basic principles of 4 different options, namely Phoslock, Diatomix, Ultrasound and nano-bubble technology. It was suggested that before anything will be applied a thorough study has to be conducted to actually see what the state of the lake is and quite likely that a biological problem needs a biological solution. Griffith University was named as one opportunity to get unbiased research. Helen spoke about her research on the ultrasonic device, shown by Channel 7 News as the council’s latest offer to fix the Algae problem, and why she actually cannot recommend it for our lake. The shape of the lake makes it almost impossible to reach all corners with only 2 machines. There is also no validated evidence that they work but they do kill zooplankton which are necessary for a balanced ecosystem. Milton Dick, Federal Member for Oxley has also stated that he was going to engage University of Qld to conduct independent water tests on the lake. Also a local resident, Trevor spoke about his ideas, much of which was gleaned from the original design report and/or management plan. Helen is in agreement with what Trevor spoke about – it would be beneficial moving forward to revisit the original management plan for the lake. Those in attendance had plenty of questions, coming from all different angles. The Ibis was seen as a major problem and they didn't believe that council was doing what they said they do to keep the numbers down. Those in attendance asked for transparency from council to let us know when they are oiling the eggs, how many eggs they are oiling etc. Helen talked about Ibis Management Plans that have been specifically prepared for lakes in a council in NSW and that they have had extremely good results in humanely reducing numbers of ibis. Generally wanting to be informed about the lake treatment at the moment, the time frame when we can expect things to happen and transparency in the lake treatment. It was clear that everyone is obviously fed up with excuses that council is 'monitoring the situation’. Charles and Helen spoke with several people after the meeting who were very interested to work with the Lake Action Group (LAG) that has been set up, on different levels. One of these persons who attended at Helen's invitation was Professor David Hamilton, the Deputy Director of the Australian Rivers Institute at Griffith University who is an expert on lake restoration and has recently published a 600-page ‘Lake Restoration Handbook”. He has offered to do a presentation to interesting community members and to relevant stakeholders in council which would be very informative and completely unbiased as he is not affiliated with any companies who are trying to push their product or technology. Charles will take our ideas to BCC, praised our efforts, saying that this will give him ammunition to get BCC to act. And he will keep us informed of every step they are doing in regards to the lake investigation. We had a visitor’s book there and got 5 pages of notes and ideas were recorded. I would like to thank the following people who made today happen. Helen Raya, Marta Blaszak, Debbie Page-Solti, Regina Brauer, Malcolm Campbell, Charles Strunk and Gregory Huddleston. I pulled the strings from my hospital bed, but these awesome people did the work.
(20min delay)