Posted on September 27, 2023
A local environmentalist believes they know a way to help with cleaning up Lake Wichita, a long-time goal for some in the Falls.
Jason Newman, owner of Newman Environmental said they believe a technology called “nano-bubbles” that put more oxygen into the water is the solution.
“All this algae growth is consuming the oxygen the Fish can’t, basically they’re suffocating because they can’t breathe, so this would put a higher D.O. concentrate in the water. So that the fish do have oxygen that they can breathe and live off of,” Newman said.
With the lake getting low it lacks the oxygen needed for all of the fish and algae, and according to the director of the Lake Wichita Revitalization Committee, David Coleman, getting some rain and deepening the lake would help fix this problem.
“What we really need is rain, I mean this has just been a very dry year, and so it’s very unfortunate that there’s not much reserve in the Lake. So when there’s no rainfall and the evaporation is high, the oxygen level comes down, and so you see that fish kill,” Coleman said.
The technology promoted by Newman is meant to help keep fish alive in a low-oxygen environment by putting more into the water.
“So it’ll kill off the algae, the bad algae, and promote healthy growth what else they do is the Nano bubbles will be able to go in and oxygenate the water table you know from the top to the bottom,” Newman said.
Back in its prime, the lake was a great place to take the family to go swimming and fishing.
“Back in the 60s it was busy all the time, like on Saturdays and Sundays especially, you couldn’t hardly get your boat out there, everybody skiing. It was good times,” Wichita Falls resident, Greg Aultman said.
