$1.5 M to Stimulate Thunderbird
Little Axe’s largest federally funded stimulus construction project has begun and is now bigger than originally planned. The project is designed to improve water quality at the lake. From the Oklahoma Water Resources Board:
Prevention of Anoxic Hypolimnion in Lake Thunderbird … design, install, and monitor a SDOX pump at the lake’s deepest area near the dam. This energy-efficient pump uses the latest technology to prevent the lakes hypolimnion from going anoxic throughout the summer months without disrupting the lake’s natural thermocline. The pump essentially mixes water that has been supersaturated with dissolved oxygen to approximately 300%. It has been determined that the seasonal anoxia that occurs each summer, is changing the lakes chemistry in a way that it exacerbates the eutrophic condition. Implementation of the SDOX device is targeted to not only improve water quality in the lake for biota but also to reduce the cost to treat as a drinking water source.
The original projected cost was $700,000, but after some modifications, the total cost is estimated at just over $1.5 million.
