 Hidden Valley Lake was pure, enchanting beauty. This mountain lake’s shimmering 101 acres were a centerpiece of swimming, boating and trout fishing for the entire community. Then blue-green algae blooms set in, and milfoil erupted with a vengeance.
“Our paradise really suffered as a result,” said Jim Serventi, Hidden Valley’s Lake Committee Chairman at the time. The community
tried to solve this serious problem with frequent applications of expensive chemicals -- to no avail. By 2004, estimated annual
herbicide applications would cost over $125,000, and Mr. Serventi and his crew had had enough. “We did our homework and we were ready for a real solution -- SolarBee.” Four SolarBee® SB10000v12 floating water circulators were installed on the lake in May.
SolarBee constantly lifts water up from the depths, and near laminar flow circulates it all across the lake’s
surface, emulating nature and bringing clean, clear healthy life back. By 2005, the blue-green algae
blooms and milfoil were gone, and water clarity increased from 6 to 23 feet. Also, the lake
fisheries became robust again (a record 8-pound trout was landed in 2007). “We
got our crystal-clear fishing/swimming/boating lake back,” exults Mr. Serventi.
And don’t overlook dollars and sense. “We more than paid for SolarBee with all the money saved on chemicals,” he added. What can solar-powered, virtually maintenance-free SolarBee do for your lakeside community?
 Sherrills Creek Reservoir in Union Point, GA had a triple dose of problems. This 48-acre lake was laden with high levels of manganese and iron, giving the water an unnatural dark color and causing it to stain their customers’ clothes and plumbing fixtures. Also, a proliferation of blue-green algae blooms resulted in finished water with an unpleasant taste and odor. Complaints were streaming in and Superintendent David Stephens didn’t know where to turn. Fortunately, Georgia Rural Water offered some great advice. “They urged us to check out SolarBee® long-distance solar-powered water circulators,” Mr. Stephens said. He liked what he learned, and in 2005, 2 SB10000v12 units were installed. One was placed shallow in the reservoir’s center -- for algae control. Another was deployed deep, near the intake to the water treatment plant, to control the manganese and iron. Thanks to SolarBee’s® day and night laminar flow, the results were astounding. “In one month,” reports Mr. Stephens, “manganese levels plummeted from 3 mg/L to less than 0.1.” As for the algae? Within 6 months, SolarBee® controlled it effectively. The taste and odor problems (along with the complaints) were history. Also, thanks to SolarBee®, there’s no more need for costly toxic chemicals and grid-powered aerators. In fact, SolarBee® slashed the system’s energy costs to almost zero. Same with maintenance costs -- because since installation in 2005, those SolarBee® units have required no servicing at all. “I never saw anything like SolarBee®,” says a happy Mr. Stephens.
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