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14 Aquatic Plants Too Much of a Good Thing Aquatic plants play a key role in maintaining your lakes biodiversity preventing erosion and providing oxygen in the water.Aquatic plant growth is something that some lakefront owners feel they have too much of. As a lake gets older an accumulation of nutrients in the sediment can cause an increased growth in aquatic plants. This natural process can be sped up by pollution and erosion. When a lake receives an overload of nutrients from fertilizer runoff leaky septic systems or erosion aquatic plants and algae can grow out of control. Eliminating sources of pollution and reducing erosion can help to avoid the over-fertilization of plants in the lake. Water temperature also has a profound effect on aquatic plant growth. Increases in water temperature can be caused by the removal of shoreline vegetation which shades shallow waters from the heat of the sun. If the streams and rivers that feed a lake have unprotected banks pre-warmed water entering the lake adds to the increase in temperature. What Can You Do to Control Aquatic Plant Growth Cutting is an expensive and labour intensive method of controlling aquatic vegetation it may not even be productive as cutting can sometimes stimulate growth. Fragments left in the water can re-root and create a denser patch of vegetation than was originally there. In smaller areas plants might be pulled out rather than cut. Be sure to remove pulled plants from the water. Toxic herbicides should be avoided They may or may not control aquatic plants quickly in the short term but can be expensive may have to be used often to be effective and have negative side effects. Herbicides are especially discouraged within a wide area where anyone will be swimming or where water intakes are nearby. Using these chemicals has health and environmental risks and always requires a Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change andor Parks Canada permit. Maintain a lakeside buffer zone by using trees to shade the shores and tributaries.This can reduce erosion as well as prevent excess nutrients from entering the lake.