Willow park pond cleaning
by Jonas Rodriguez
P. 5
Whats the problem?
Willow Park´s pond is infested with bacteria; it´s pretty obvious, even by the color configuration of it of it. No human is going to swim in it though, so why is it such a problem? The problem is the environment´s health. The pond is practically the whole core of all the living organisms in the environment; one unhealthy organism could bring down all other organisms, then everything will have conflict with each other and may create more that have never been seen before.
Where do we start?
In order to fix this, we need to identify the beginning and one of the primary parts of the whole problem; what started all of this?
Planktonic algae - All lakes have some level of planktonic algae under the surface. At normal levels, they will not be visible or harmful to overall aquatic health or water quality. However, when algae levels are elevated, they can quickly cause an unsightly nuisance bloom that disrupts the pond’s ecosystem. These blooms are typically caused by a combination of a certain water temperature and nutrient level. A heavy planktonic bloom will give a pond or lake that “pea soup” appearance or may look similar to a layer of green or greenish-blue paint being spilled on the surface of the water.
Planktonic algae being so thick, can shade the top of the pool which can block any oxygen mixing into the water, thus lowering available oxygen for turtles, invertebrates, and other small water-life.
What also doesnt help is all of the duck waste. No, we can't stop ducks from eating, but we can change what they eat. Though there are already signs in the park saying not to feed the ducks bread, popcorn, etc., people still do not follow those rules because they don't know what they're causing;
poor nutritionincreased hybridizationdelayed migrationconcentrations at unnatural sightsovercrowdingspread of diseasecostly management effortsunnatural behavior cumulative effectsdevaluation of the species
and above all, water polution.
Whats our soloution?
Zooplankton
Zooplankton are small organisms that are usually seen in their growing stages to become snails, krill, etc, and feed off of planktonic algae. They find toxic or problematic algae or small organisms and would clean the water if we started breeding them in our pond.
Social awareness
In order for an idea to turn into an action, we need teamwork and awareness. Teamwork would be the City of Cypress coming together and helping eachother and the pond all together, and awareness, the second step, is where it comes into show. Mainly using all social media platforms to notify everyone following that we need help, why, how, and any information that follows.
Willow Park and its pond is such a beautiful place filled with so many beautiful people who worked so hard on it, so why not make it beautiful for everyone? With the help of the city we can make Willow Park more safe & friendly, lets take the ducks choice on where to live as an honor and make the park enjoyable to stay at for everyone!
Finished? Click on the
duck to go back to start!
