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 Water Clarity
Water
clarity has been successfully improved by addition of gypsum powder when
the lakes were initially filled (originally as muddy as the Mississippi)
and again in the spring of 2008. Several truckloads are typically added
at a time by loading it onto a work barge and washing into the lake with
pumped water. We have utilized Shance Tyson for this service so far.
Lake Color
An
FDA-approved dye is added to the lake for appearance and to
block sunlight for weed control.
In 2008,
we purchased "Hurricane Blue" dye from Hurricane Lake Management. This
company provides services to over 100 lakes located in golf courses and
subdivisions in the Houston area. Jim Prado is the President of
Hurricane Lake Management. Among his clients (and the source of our
referral) are the residents of TerraMare. Among other things, he sells
the lake dye to them. With a PhD in Chemical Engineering, he is very
knowledgeable and shared many thoughts on managing the color and clarity
of our lakes. He understands the balancing act of controlling costs
while keeping the lakes in the proper condition for aesthetic,
vegetative, and ph purposes. Another contact there is Mike.
Mike indicated that the coverage is calculated
and labeled on a Percent Dye Content (PCD). The content for his product
is 26 PCD and is the same as the product Aqua Shade. The clarity, 4
feet for 1 acre in your example, will be affected by the turbidity
(clarity) of the lake. Mike recommends using either a turbidity meter
or secchi disk to measure the clarity and obtain the desired levels we
want. It comes down to striking a balance between color and clarity,
i.e. the clearer the water, the more dye we need. To have the water at
the clearest point requires that the hardness is increased but we don’t
want it so hard that stains and deposits appear on our boats and
equipment. According to Hurricane, gypsum will NOT effect the
dye (non-charged particle) if we decide to add more gypsum to our lakes
at a latter time. What will change is the color of the lakes, cleaner
water = more blue color.
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