Coming from the West to the Midwest, it quickly became clear to me that the Midwest is a haven of environmentalism, and Menomonie was right where I needed to be as an eager applied engineer. Everywhere I went, be it the shops on Main Street or community fairs and concerts, I was able to have a conversation with someone about Lake Menomin, which has been experiencing harmful cyanobacteria blooms for over 10 years now. The summer heat provides the perfect conditions for these organisms to take over. Cyanobacteria initiate the breakdown of the aquatic ecosystem by increasing the concentration of phosphorus and reducing the amount of oxygen in the lake.
Combatting cyanobacteria buildup is a challenge for many reasons, one of which is that high-frequency remote monitoring systems for lake health do not yet exist. Current sampling is done only every once in a while, and while data is collected at the state level through the DNR, that data is not easily accessible to citizens of the City of Menomonie. The engineering team at the LAKES summer research program aims to address these issues.
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Our goal in the LAKES program is to set precedent for future lake research, as well as explore various treatment and mitigation efforts for nutrient excess in Menomin. While nutrient excess is not an overnight problem with an overnight solution, it is possible for more people to be involved in the problem-solving process after this summer. This is the vision of the LAKES engineering team.
What we have in mind is an inexpensive electronic monitoring system, outfitted with deep-range lake health metrics including but not limited to temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and more, all monitored by a LoRA microcomputer module network. Each node in the overall network would have its respective sensors ping data to the rest of the network, and the data would travel along the chain until it gets to home base, an Excel spreadsheet with each metric and the location it was collected in. By the end of the program, we hope to transfer the Excel data to a more readable format, such as a website or mobile app. This format will allow the people of Menomonie, eager to help in any way they can, to easily keep tabs on lake health. We hope our progress can be continued and exceeded after this summer by Stout’s bright fall semester students.
THE GOAL
Halting the decades-long deterioration of a lake is an ambitious goal. But with the REU program’s tag-team efforts, combining engineering, economics, biology, sociology, and psychology, we hope to increase the collective consciousness of all stakeholders and approach the goal from an optimization perspective. Using our combined knowledge, we can deploy the first prototype monitors, filters, and remediators to the places in the watershed where they are most needed, in order to achieve the greatest positive effect overall.
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Two weeks in, my LAKES teammates and mentors have helped me ascertain direction as a scientist, researcher, and rising professional. But I also cherish the fun times they’ve shared with me, with strolls through the farmer’s market and trips to beautiful swimming holes. When the go-getter in me stresses about what I will be able to accomplish this summer, I remember to do my best, knowing that my colleagues and friends have got my back if I need it, and vice versa. My goal for this summer is to do the most that I can with engineering, and get more people interested in working on this problem during our community forum in August. Maybe the way I approach the goal changes; maybe the circuit fails the first few times. But we have weeks to get it right, and I know we will get it right in some way, shape, or form. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer brings.
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