New Aeration System to Help Fish in Lake

Lake Lindero is finally getting a breath of fresh air, thanks to about 4,000 feet of tubing that now snakes across the lake’s shallow bottom.

Hundreds of dead fish washed up onshore during the past two summers after algae depleted oxygen in the water. A new aeration system was recently installed at the Agoura Hills lake, and tests conducted this week showed oxygen was back at a healthy level of nine parts per million, said Greg Feet, general manager of the Lindero Country Club.

“It needs to get down to two [parts per million] or so before it starts killing fish, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed,” he said.

Also added to the lake, he said, were microbes, which compete with algae for food, and a UV protector, which shields the lake from the sun, cooling the water and reducing algae growth. The microbes are supposed to digest silt at the lake’s bottom, making the 5-foot lake deeper.

“When there’s more water, there’s more oxygen in the lake,” Feet said.

The aeration system was originally due to be running by mid-June, but 15 homeowners petitioned the Agoura Hills City Council to delay construction until they could study the plan further. About 80% of the system is now in place, with one additional piece of tubing yet to be installed.

The Lake Lindero Homeowners Assn. paid for the aeration system and Golf Projects Lindero, the country club’s management company, secured the permits and oversaw the system’s installation. Feet declined to say how much the project cost.

New fish were added to the lake two years ago, and there is now a “very healthy nursery stock,” Feet said, including thousands of tiny bass. There are no plans to add more fish.