Canada, page-2

On the 28th of February, a presentation was held in the town of Bromont, in Quebec, Canada, on the results of the 2017 Phoslock treatment of the Lac Bromont. Overnight, a report appeared on a local French-language new site with an overview of this meeting. 
 
A translation of most of the report, which makes for some interesting reading, can be found below.

The title translates to 'The Phoslock operation has been a success at Bromont'

The Phoslock operation that was launched at Lake Bromont in the autumn of 2017 has been a success. Tests last year show that clay granules containing lanthanum designed to bind the phosphorous at the site of cyanobacteria has significantly improved the health of the lake.

Analysis was carried out over the months during which the lake was not frozen, tracking the changes in the vegetation, the oxygen in the water, and the temperature and water transparency. Each day we surveyed the appearance of the blue-green algae.

In recent years, the first appearance of blooms of cyanobacteria was well before the national holiday (the 24th of June).

In 2018, a few months after the Phoslock application, small blooms of algae materialised in the water in mid-August, but disappeared very quickly.  These were well below the levels of previous years, when the water could look like a pea-green soup, said Elisabeth G Tellier, the project manager for l’Action conservation du bassin versant du lac Bromont (ACBVLV) on Thursday evening in front of a citizens assembly of around forty people. 

"We didn't have any beach closures", she noted. "We had an exceptional year".

The report continues under the next subheading, which translates to 'Decrease of 70%': 

Exceptional, especially since there were several episodes of intense heat and torrential rain last summer.  

After these rains, cyanobacteria briefly appeared, explains Dolores Planas, a Biology researcher specialising in aquatic ecology. Having retired from 2012, she continues to work on this project with students from the UQAM.

A new cyanobacteria appeared in small quantities, while the type of algae that causes the closure of activities on this lake and many others in Quebec has almost disappeared. The oxygen levels were low, or zero at depth, throughout the summer. "If we had not had Phoslock, there would have been a terrible cyanobacteria infestation", affirmed the Emeritus Professor. 

She adds that 'the levels of phosphorous have decreased by more than 70%, despite the long duration on oxygen deficiency'. 

As for the level of transparency, 'there is no significant difference between 2017 and 2018'.

The next heading translates to 'Pleasantly Surprised'

The results of the analysis made by both the ACBVLB and the researchers and students at UQAM were surprising.

"I have to say that I always had confidence in Phoslock, but it surprised me", said Dolores Planas in an interview after a two hour presentation. "I did not think the response would be that quick. I did not expect that there would be such a significant decrease in the presence of this type of algae, the sort that cause all the problems in the summer, that they have to close the lake in the summer. "The intense heat, the torrential rains and the lack of oxygen in the water would have been all factors that favoured the proliferation of cyanobacteria on the surface. However, the blooms were minor and temporary and the cyanobacteria was different.

These would have to rank as some of most glowing comments on the efficacy of the Phoslock product since the company commenced operations. I suspect part of the reason that this researcher was so impressed may have been down to the fact that 2018 was such a horrible year of algal blooms in Canada: at a time when so many other lakes in the region had an unhealthy green hue, the effects of the treatment at Bromont was obvious and impossible to ignore.     

Promisingly, in one of the last paragraphs, the article also notes that the success of the Bromont treatment should pave the way for Phoslock treatments elsewhere in the region:

The success of the first year of the Phoslock operation opens the door to other municipalities struggling with cyanobacteria problems in their water bodies. It was a last resort for Bromont. About 80% of the phosphorus input came from sediments at the bottom of the lake. The project has been accepted as a pilot project and requires close follow-up with the Quebec Ministry of the Environment and Health Canada."It opens the door, but they also have to control the external inputs and the main source of phosphorus is the sediments of the lake," says Planas. "In this case, yes, I recommend Phoslock. "

You might recall another article from the region at the end of last year seemed to indicate that the successful treatment of Lac Bromont could pave the way for the treatment of another local lake, called Lake Saint-Augustin. Judging by the positive comments in that report overnight, you would have to assume that there is a good chance that the Saint-Augustin treatment might now get the green light. Indeed, the wording in that last extract from the article seems to suggest that many other water bodies in the area could be in contention for a Phoslock treatment. 

This positive coverage not only should help pave the way for more phoslock applications in Canada, but given that the report is in French it would would also serve as an excellent advertisement for the company in other French speaking jurisdictions, most notably in France itself, which experienced some serious problems with algae in some regions last year.  

That article from Canada wasn't the only article on Phoslock in recent days. The company was mentioned in another website from the US in an update on an Algae Bloom workshop at Fort Lauderdale in Florida on May 21 and 22. One of the speakers at the event is from Phoslock:

" Review of techniques promoted in the Netherlands for algal control - what works and what doesn’t”. Dr. Miquel Lurling, Phoslock Environmental Technologies Ltd.

This could be taken as sign that Phoslock has a good chance of being involved in Florida's campaign to tackle problematic algae.

Keep in mind that earlier this year Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, apparently pledged to spend $2.5 billion for protecting water resources and for the restoration of the Florida Everglades, and so if Phoslock were involved here it would surely be no small deal.