Lake Pontchartrain is an eco-disaster after draining the Soup Bowl of chemicals, sewage and debris from New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the storms, rain and precipitation, which followed.
After New Orleans was drained we learned that although it could be considered a Toxic Waste dump by EPA standards it was not quite as bad as everyone thought.
As the debate rages on about how to reduce the size of the city by allowing the water to retake part of New Orleans lower elevation areas, we now need to concentrate on what to do with Lake Ponchartrain.
Lake Ponchartrain was making a strong comeback in the years prior to Hurricane Katrina, as nature always does find a way to clean itself and renew.
The environment is proving to be quite resilient indeed.
One may wonder after the human race has been extinct how long it will take Mother Nature to bury all our cities, clean up our mess and grow over our civilizations? Judging from some of the past ancient civilizations we have discovered probably not as long as we think; nature is a lot tougher than we are and our present building materials are no match for her or the long time periods between geological periods.
Yet, we live in the present period and want to enjoy our Lakes, streams and oceans and Lake Pontchartrain was a place for boaters, fishing and fun.
It is a shame to see it in such disrepair after we pumped out the sludge, sewage and chemicals.
I would therefore like to propose that we coat the boats on lake with a special coating which will clean the lake as they cruise around on it.
We have modern coatings and environmental dispensers, which can do this.
If we use Underwater Autonomous Vehicles (AUVs) to clean some of the underwater and bottom areas of the lake by delivering encapsulated timed release bio-remediation materials; we may find that we can clean the large volume of water very quickly.
We would have to set up the AUVs in an underwater grid pattern and they could run on Solar Power and Electricity or Hydrogen Cell Hybrid Systems.
Then each boat on the Lake owned by individuals would get a "Use Tax" break from the County and a "Tax Holiday" on registration and fees from the State of Louisiana for putting small boxes near the rear of the boat which would release encapsulated timed pellets.
These pellets would be made of spongy material, which would not hurt the boat hulls of vessels, which might bump into them as they float.
The spongy material would also be made very distasteful to birds, fish, sea life and wildlife; yet would clean the Lake.
How do we put these pellets on the boats or get everyone to do this? Well, simple we give them a "Free Boat Wash" and install them at that time.
Then we take the boat numbers and send them a coupon in the mail which they slip in with their tax invoices.
Then each time they get another "free boat" wash every couple of months, we check to see if the boxes need to be refilled with spongy pellets.
How do I know this will work? Well, you might say I know a little about "boater buying behavior" and "Free" is something a boat owner can really sink their teeth into; owning a boat is not an inexpensive endeavor and everyone likes to save a little money, especially to offset the fuel costs these days.
http://www.
carwashguys.
com/boatlaunch.
shtml Timed released biological and environmental remediation is nothing new, many environmental engineers use this to help reduce large algae blooms which threaten drinking water supplies, affect water quality or are a danger to sea life.
Think on this idea, it is totally doable and we can start ASAP.