LSA project technology development update

The state of low cost solar array technology is discussed. The goal of achieving $500/kW by 1986 is also discussed

Wandsworth Lakes: Annual report on lake monitoring and management 2016

Lakes and rivers form an important part of the urban landscape and provide a wide range of opportunities for both people and wildlife. Within the London Borough of Wandsworth, the park lakes have a long and varied history, culminating in them delivering a wide range of functions today, including wildlife sanctuaries, fishing lakes and boating lakes and above all, they provide an important part of the diversity and inherent value of the parks to the local communities. Over the past 19 years, ENSIS has collected extensive data on the water quality and ecological potential of the Wandsworth lakes. Through careful and informed management, we have seen very significant improvements in some of the sites, and have developed a clear understanding of the functioning and potential for each of the sites. Key to many of the management goals is good water quality, something that is very difficult to achieve within an urban environment. In addition, where water quality cannot be controlled, other factors have been addressed, such as fish management and marginal planting to improve the aesthetic quality of the sites

River Thames Scheme lake surveys: macrophytes

The proposed River Thames Scheme (RTS) is a major hydro-engineering scheme which aims to divert water from the River Thames at high flows through a number of the gravel pit lakes located either side of the river between Datchet (in the north) and Shepperton (in the south). There are 28 lakes of interest to the RTS and data is required to inform Habitats Directive risk assessments, WFD assessments and environmental impact assessments. Information collected through this contract will supplement a large body of water quality and biological data already held by the Environment Agency and is required as a data gap filling exercise. The lakes range in size from approximately 40 ha to less than 1 ha. Some are SPA and WFD lakes, others are “SPA relevant” and some are neither. The information requirements associated with a given lake are therefore not the same. For some lakes HRA and/or WFD assessments are required, for others it is simply necessary to understand the implications in terms of species movement of increased connectivity as they become part of the flood channel or are more frequently inundated. For the lakes which are SPA or SPA relevant the Environment Agency also hopes to get information on the overall extent of aquatic macrophyte beds, i.e. whether the plants are confined to a small area of the lake, or are extensive throughout the lake. The location and extent of macrophyte beds are important in terms of providing habitat for the SPA features as well as understanding potential impacts related construction of the flood scheme channels, bunds and other associated infrastructure. The list of lakes included with this project is detailed in Table 1 along with an approximate size in hectares and the requirement of each in terms of survey type. A map is also provided indicating the locations of the lakes (Figure 1)

Wandsworth Lakes: Annual report on lake monitoring and management 2017

Lakes and rivers form an important part of the urban landscape and provide a wide range of opportunities for both people and wildlife. Within the London Borough of Wandsworth, the park lakes have a long and varied history, culminating in them delivering a wide range of functions today, including wildlife sanctuaries, fishing lakes and boating lakes and above all, they provide an important part of the diversity and inherent value of the parks to the local communities. Over the past 20 years, ENSIS has collected extensive data on the water quality and ecological potential of the Wandsworth lakes. Through careful and informed management, we have seen very significant improvements in some of the sites, and have developed a clear understanding of the functioning and potential for each of the sites. Key to many of the management goals is good water quality, something that is very difficult to achieve within an urban environment. In addition, where water quality cannot be controlled, other factors have been addressed, such as fish management and marginal planting to improve the aesthetic quality of the sites

Post-restoration nutrient monitoring: Felbrigg Lake final report to the National Trust

Combined limnological and palaeolimnological studies show Felbrigg Lake to have been negatively affected by eutrophication over at least the last century (Sayer et al., 2010a,b; Rawcliffe et al., 2010). In particular, since the 1960s-1970s, the lake has possessed an impoverished macrophyte community and charophytes (which were abundant prior to 1900) have been sparse-absent