With all the precipitation we’ve experienced, in Quebec, over the past two years, we’re witnessing surface water run-off and nutrients, such as phosphorus, entering waterways. The result is increased contamination of water bodies by aquatic plants.
Controlling the Proliferation of Aquatic Plants
Here are two simple solutions that can be applied simultaneously:
- Cut out sources of phosphorus, such as fertilizers and phosphate soaps, and replace non-compliant septic tanks.
- Remove phosphorus from water. This is achieved by understanding the circular consumption process (CCP) that prevails on the planet.
An example of the circular consumption process (CCP)
Take a tree in a forest. It grows and produces its leaves, stems and roots by drawing nutrients from the soil, including phosphorus, one of the elements contributing to the proliferation of aquatic plants. Tree leaves fall to the ground and form a mulch. Soil insects and microbes decompose the leaves to make humus, and the nutrients are once again available for the tree to grow more leaves… And so the cycle continues! Nothing is lost and nothing is created, but everything is transformed indefinitely. That’s the circular consumption process (CCP).
Is it true? Yes! And here’s why!
The Transformation Cycle in Lakes
When a surplus of nutrients, particularly phosphorus, is released into the environment and cannot be absorbed by terrestrial plants, the phosphorus is washed off the surface by rainfall or penetrates the soil to reach the water table, inevitably ending up in a lake one day.
As the circular consumption process (CCP) is ubiquitous on the planet, the phosphorus thus delivered to the lakes will have to be managed by aquatic plants instead of terrestrial ones. There’s nothing rocket science about this work by nature, since it’s simply continuing its process, with the phosphorus supplements we impose on it.
So, just as trees regain phosphorus through the decomposition of their leaves, aquatic plants will feed on the phosphorus generated by the decomposition of their own foliage if it remains in the watercourse.
If we want to reduce phosphorus levels in lakes, common sense dictates that we harvest the foliage of aquatic plants by cutting them back. But be careful! You don’t want to pull them out, because their foliage needs to grow back, thus capturing new phosphorus in the water, rather than the same phosphorus that has become available again through the decomposition of their foliage at the bottom of the lake.
Leaving aquatic plants to rot in a humid environment means feeding the humid environment with compost. The more aquatic plants there are, the more compost will accumulate and the more aquatic plants will grow over the years.

The Process With Aquatic Plants
To understand the process, let’s suppose we harvest the foliage of aquatic plants from a lake (water lilies, milfoil or other) and make a compost heap with them. Once the plants have decomposed (it only takes a few months), the result is good, rich compost. Then, if you were to spread this compost in the lake, what would the authorities say? What would local residents say? Putting compost in a lake would contaminate it, wouldn’t it?
Yet this compost comes from plants that were growing in the lake and would have been composted at the bottom of the lake if they hadn’t been harvested. So, tell me the difference between doing this and letting the plants rot on their own at the bottom of the lake, as proposed by decision-makers? On what environmental principles are the experts basing their decision to prohibit shoreline residents from harvesting the aquatic plants that are proliferating in their bodies of water, preventing them from enjoying it and lowering the value of their property? Has banning the harvesting of foliage helped reduce contamination of water bodies?

CCP is the key to truly understanding how nature works. For aquatic plants, the solution is to harvest them and use them as mulch or compost on the land, in order to return to the earth what comes from the earth.

garden surface. Cover with a tarpaulin for winter. In spring, the whole
will have decomposed and all that’s left to do is dig in, and the garden will be ready, fertile and weed-free. Photo: Serge Fortier.
Harvesting Aquatic Plants, a Relevant Solution
Understanding this, local residents would kill two birds with one stone! They’d rediscover the pleasures of being close to a body of water, while benefiting from rich compost for their garden or landscaping.
Valuing what nature gives us instead of spending fortunes to manage these resources as waste and nuisance would help us lower our cost of living in addition to helping clean up our environment!
Iam in the U K ,we have the same problem .mainly due to run off from Farms & invasion from foreign plants discarded by pond owers dumping none natice species which then go mad .