Despite the frigid weather of the past two months, the Grand Lake St. Marys Restoration Commission (GLSMRC) will achieve another milestone this week. The installation of the in stream sediment collector on Barnes Creek was completed when Midwest Electric installed their meter completing the connection the collector to their lines. This is the third in stream collector installed on a tributary to the Lake by the GLSMRC.
The in stream collectors remove the sediments and the nutrients attached to sediments before they get into the Lake. The Streamside Systems patented Collector allows the energy of the stream to deliver the bedload sediment up the Collector’s ramp and into the multiple hoppers. The fluidized sediment is pumped to a dewatering site for beneficial reclamation of harvested sediments and the water is returned to the Collector in a semi close-loop scenario. The collectors are unobtrusive; will not increase in stream turbidity, nor will they adversely impact the aquatic ecology.
The major components of the in stream collector system are the collector which is installed in the streambed, a wet well, a pump, a controller, and a separator to remove the sediment from the water. The control has a wireless internet connection that allows for maximum energy efficiency by downloading stream flow and depth data from the internet – off of the USGS website (http://waterdata.usgs.gov) – from the gauging station on the Big Chickasaw and only running the sediment pumps when sediment is moving in the river and being harvested by the collector. This is done by periodically cycling the pumps on and off at low flows to capture the small amounts of sediments moving and continuously running the pumps for high flows (heavy rain events) to capture the sediment transporting – which is when the majority of the sediment moves downstream in the river.
The attached pictures show the 20 foot long collector just prior to its installation and the collector being lowered into Barnes Creek. The installation required breaking up the ice at the site, excavation of shallow depression in the creek bed, placing a gravel bed to support the collector, and carefully lowering the collector into the stream. Note the dedicated Streamside Systems technicians in the creek guiding the collector to its proper position.
The acquisition and installation of the Barnes Creek collector was funded by an OEPA 319 grant and matching funds raised by the GLSMRC.