Milavec Lake Circulators

What’s that smell? The yearly algal bloom at Milavec Lake causes a very unpleasant smell at the Frederick Recreation Area. The smell is typically very noticeable between June and September each year.

In April 2020, the Town installed three new SolarBee® Lake Circulators at Lake Milavec in the Frederick Recreation Area. These circulators are designed to solve a variety of water quality problems in lakes and raw water reservoirs. Active lake circulation can prevent and control harmful cyanobacteria (a.k.a. blue-green algae) blooms, reduce odor and invasive aquatic weeds. Dive into the benefits of these new circulators and view the staging area and position areas on the lake.

SolarBee® Lake Circulators are designed to prevent algal blooms at the lake but will not altogether remove odor issues right away. Since the algal bloom was so significant in 2019, the mixing of water at the lake can cause the water clarity and odor to worsen before it improves. When the mixers are active, they will begin moving water between the different zones of the lake. You can expect the odor to increase as the water near the bottom of the lake is brought to the surface. This is similar to what happens when the lake naturally “turns over” in the spring and fall. The water that is brought to the surface contains a lot of phosphorous and other nutrients that algae thrive on. Nutrients are also brought into the lake with inflow from the ditch that feeds the lake. Once the lake returns to a more stable state and the nutrients are not able to build up to as high of levels that feed large algal blooms, the water will significantly improve as there is less “food” for the algae. Installing the new SolarBee® Lake Circulators is just one step the Town is taking to prevent algal blooms and address the odor issues at the lake.