Solution Showcase: Windmill Aeration

Windmills are always a great option where there is sufficient space; They offer a sustainable aeration solution and are often quite aesthetically pleasing. Windmills can also be considered superior to solar power, especially in windy areas, as they are not limited to working during daylight hours.

The fundamental difference between our Windmills and other offerings on the market is that normal windmills pump water, whereas ours inject air into the bottom of the dam. This creates millions of bubbles which bring still, stagnant water to the top of the water body, therefore creating continuous, free aeration and circulation. All of our towers are hinged to allow for easy raising and lowering of the system and in the decade we’ve been selling them for, we’ve only had two customers come back to replace their diaphragm.

If you’re considering installing wind powered aeration for your water body, or just want some more information, check out the below video and solution showcase to see how it can help you and has helped those before you:

View the illustrated PDF of our Solution Showcase here: Solution Showcase – Windmill Aeration or scroll to the bottom of this post for the plain text transcript.

If you are located within our service area, or that of one of our partners, we will be happy to install the system for you, but there’s no need to stress if you aren’t, as they ship on a pallet to facilitate ease of transport and if you can put together a meccano set you’ll be able to build your new windmill in no time.

If you’d like to discuss options for your water body or request a service and/or maintenance, please call us on 1300 283 387 and one of our friendly specialists will help you find the best solution for your situation.

Windmill Aeration Solution Showcase Transcript

The Windmill discussed in this showcase was installed at a private customer’s home dam in Victoria.

Issue Overview

Client has a medium sized dam, of a regular shape on a residential property. The water body is used for stock watering and recreational purposes.

Recently the water has become quite stagnant and lacking in oxygen. This has lead to degradation of the water quality within the dam and as a result, an issue has arisen with blue-green algae.

A Deeper Look At The Problem

Blue-green algae, known scientifically as Cyanobacteria, can pose a serious threat not only to the health of your water body, but also to yourself and any plants or animals which it may come into contact with.

Blooms are most commonly triggered by excess nutrients in your aquatic environment but can also appear due to factors such as:

  • A lack of oxygen or circulation within your water body.
  • General imbalances in your ecosystem.
  • Something as simple as sustained warmer temperatures.

Accordingly, this type of algae is particularly partial to stagnant water in a warmer climates.

If not correctly dealt with in a timely manner, algae can further reduce oxygen levels in your water body while it is decaying and increase toxicity levels, therefore killing off good bacteria and starting a self-perpetuating spiral of destruction.

Special Considerations For This Project

  • Any treatment used must be fish friendly.
  • Treatment must also leave the water safe for livestock, irrigation and recreational purposes.
  • The client does not have a power source near the dam.
  • Surface level aeration may spook livestock or cause injury.

Our Recommendation

As blue-green algae does not like being circulated, our top recommendation was to install an aeration system. All water bodies should be correctly aerated anyway, as all friendly organisms require oxygen, but in this case, aeration will be particularly beneficial as circulating the water should remove, or at least greatly reduce, the algae outbreak.

In many cases surface aeration would be acceptable for a water body like the client’s dam. In this instance, however, naturally powered, sub-surface aeration is our recommendation. This takes into account the need to keep water disturbance to a minimum in order to avoid frightening livestock which rely on the dam as their main drinking source and the lack of power present at the site.

The Solution

Given that the dam is located in a particularly windy area, Windmill powered aeration posed the perfect solution. This option carries many benefits including:

  • Highly sustainable: As wind is a natural resource, Windmills are a great option for both the client’s back pocket and the environment.
  • More effective than solar when correctly located as they can run overnight without external intervention.
  • As our Windmills make use of diaphragms to inject air into the bottom of the dam, rather than the standard method of pumping water to create aeration, the models we supply do not require the use of a pump. This means that all aeration is powered by wind.