Perking Up the Pond

A long-standing winter tradition for Abington-area residents is no more-- but for a very good reason.

The pond at Baptist Bible College and Seminary (BBC), 538 Venard Road, South Abington Twp., has been known as a popular place for ice skating and hockey during the winter months. But, because of the college's environmental clean-up efforts, it is no longer able to freeze entirely.

"The pond itself is iconic; a lot of people like to go for walks around this pond, not just students or staff but also members of the community," said Ken Knelly, executive director of communications and marketing for BBC. "A lot of people like to get their wedding pictures taken there. It is a very popular destination. You can walk all the way around the pond; it is both a paved and a chipped wood trail. We recognize its status but we also know that it has had a history of problems with algae growth and all those kinds of things that are healthy in their own way but detract from the beauty of the pond."

Knelly explained that BBC is working with Lake Savers, a company based in Richland, Mich. that specializes in management strategies for healthier lakes. The college has implemented an "engineered and biological augmentation program" that is a non-chemical, environmentally-friendly effort to control weed and algae growth as well as to improve the overall water quality of the pond. The on-going augmentation and control effort costs BBC about $5,000 per year.

"Part of the clean-up effort extended to the installation of aeration units that are underwater," Knelly explained. "They are five little things that look like circles. It has, so far, been such a mild winter that we haven't really seen things. The net effect is that by having those units in there it will help us with the clean-up issue. At the same time, because they will be operating all the time, the pond is not going to be able to freeze completely as it has in the past."

The pond at BBC is unlikely to totally freeze over during the winter months because the aeration units keep the water constantly circulating. The aeration system was specifically designed for BBC by Clean-Flo International of West Chester, Pa., and is supposed to limit the growth of algae at the pond as well as subsequent discoloration.

During the warmer months, Lake Savers manually harvests weeds and algae to keep the pond clear. They also apply beneficial bacterial and enzyme treatments to the pond's water to keep things as pristine as possible.

"You don't want to drive by or walk around the pond with the nice fountain in the middle only to see all of this algae growing around," Knelly said. "It is very fine stuff, not like seaweed. They had to be careful on how they took it out, too."

"With the opening of the Kempton Athletic Center later this year, there will be events going on that will draw more community people to the area so we may have even more traffic and more people who are coming here," Knelly continued. "From our standpoint, making the pond better is important because we will have more people coming to our campus. Something needed to be done."

While BBC wants the pond to be aesthetically pleasing as well as environmentally-sound, the school also wants the clean-up efforts to result in an enhanced experience for campus visitors and students alike.

"We hope that this process of clean up will result in less of the stuff that makes the pond not as pretty as it can be," Knelly said. "We want a nice-looking pond that people can enjoy and we're trying to do what it takes to get there."

"It is important that people know why we're doing this," Knelly continued. "We care about the community very much and this pond is a community place. We want the members of the community to enjoy themselves while they are visiting our campus."

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