Lake responses to long-term hypolimnetic withdrawal treatments

Abstract

Hypolimnetic withdrawal is an in-lake restoration technique based on the selective discharge of bottom water to enhance the removal of nutrients and electro-chemically reduced substances that build up when the hypolimnion becomes anoxic. Comparison of water quality variables before and during treatment in about 40 European and 8 North American lakes indicates that hypolimnetic withdrawal is an efficient restoration technique in stratified lakes. Water quality improvement was apparent in decreased summer average epilimnetic phosphorus (P) and chlorophyll concentrations, increased Secchi disk transparency, and decreased hypolimnetic phosphorus concentration and anoxia. In particular, summer average phosphorus decreases were significantly correlated with annual water volumes and P masses withdrawn per lake area, indicating the importance of hydrology and timing of the treatment. Observations as well as models revealed that avoiding extreme temperature changes in the water column is critical for a successful application of the technique. The removal of colder bottom water may increase bottom water temperatures, which not only increases sediment release rates and sediment oxygen demand but, more important, may lead to thermal instability, resulting in enhanced entrainment of nutrient-rich hypolimnetic water and increased surface eutrophication. Hypolimnetic withdrawal also improved water quality in man-made lakes with bottom outlets unless too much withdrawal led to thermal instability. It failed to have a positive effect in a shallow oligomictic lake, probably because nutrient export was not much increased. A recognized disadvantage of hypolimnetic withdrawal is its impact on downstream waters, including eutrophication, temperature increase, oxygen depletion, and odor development. In the experiences evaluated, treatment of the withdrawal water ranged from no treatment in older remote applications in the European Alps, to passive treatment in wetlands and settling ponds, and modern waste water technologies in more recent applications. Overall, hypolimnetic withdrawal is an effective low-cost restoration technique to combat and potentially reverse eutrophication in stratified lakes and reservoirs.