Morgan Welch, an Overland Park senior, took a water sample two weeks ago of Potter Lake for a study in his chemistry class.
Needless to say, he was appalled at the condition.
"I really don't see how anything can live in there, the pH balance was low which means more bacteria is growing and it's obvious by the surface," Welch said.
Fortunately, Welch isn't the only student who has noticed how disgusting Potter Lake has gotten. A group of students have recently formed a student group called the Potter Lake Project in hope of one day restoring Potter Lake to its regular, beautiful self. As the group's creators move on from Lawrence, new students have also stepped up and taken newly open roles in the group. Not only are students involved, but also faculty and alumni are trying to figure out the best way to make Potter Lake an enjoyable place to see again.
John Kenny, a recently graduated KU student, co-started the group called the Potter Lake Project back in the spring semester of 2008. The group started out after Kenny and a colleague went to the student senate, urging the board to help them publicize their cause.
Kenny said the student senate helped the group get the word out across campus about its intentions in the Kansan and Lawrence Journal World, but the publicity was short lived after the new student senate elections.
After the new student senate, the group continued their work as an independent student group with little funding and little support.
"There was nobody in the administration or within facility operations who was really encouraging us or giving us any kind of support so it was definitely a student pushed cause at the beginning," Kenny said.
As the Potter Lake Project began to attract new followers, it started to see an increase in its ability to expand outward to more than just students. Their first objective was to find out the history of Potter Lake, dating all the way back to 1911 when it was created. Kenny said Potter Lake used to be a popular swimming pool to KU students, even having diving boards on the side.
In the 1920s and 1930s, a few people died while swimming in the lake. The University banned swimming in Potter Lake, turning it into a relaxing place to enjoy a nice day with park benches, grass areas and grills. In the WW2 era, Potter Lake used to be a social setting for dances. Over the years, Potter Lake became increasingly uncared for, resulting in the mossy swamp it appears to be today.
Kenny and the Potter Lake Project's goal is to restore this once clean and attractive area in the middle of KU's campus back to its original beauty.
"We saw a problem here and looked to see if other people saw the problem with the same sympathy, organized ourselves together and tried to find out what we could get done," Kenny said. "This is something that I am very happy about exploring while I've been here."
The Potter Lake Project has gone to the university multiple times and has been redirected towards the support of alumni.
Kenny said the difficult thing about getting alumni to donate money towards the cleaning out and refurbishing of Potter Lake is that most alumni who make fairly large donations want their name on something.
"Alumni tend to not want to donate towards landscape and natural things surrounding campus because they can't stick their names on there," Kenny said, "but we've been working on some ways that donators can be recognized."
The Potter Lake Project is aimed at cleaning Potter Lake
Kenny graduated this past spring and leaves for South Korea next month to teach English to children for a year. While the creators are leaving, other students that have joined the group are taking their places in the leadership of accomplishing the group's goals.
Matt Nahrstedt, who joined the group in the fall of 2008, will be taking over as president of the Potter Lake Project. Nahrstedt was a freshman at the time he was introduced to the group and became an active member after attending his first meeting.
Nahrstedt said he received an email from the architecture school regarding any interested students wanting to help the community and the school to attend a Potter Lake Project meeting. His reoccurrence at the meeting caught the eye of Kenny, who asked him to take a more prominent role in the group.
"Another member and I took responsibility of figuring out how the group was going to continue after John was gone and ended up being selected to lead the Potter Lake Project," Nahrstedt said.
As of last May, the group had accomplished its first real goal. The Kansas Wildlife and Parks, which has become extremely helpful towards the Potter Lake Project, donated Grass Carp to the group to put in Potter Lake. The Kansas Wildlife and Parks breed Grass Carp, which eat the plants growing in the water. While this does not kill the problem, Nahrstedt said it was the first real accomplishment the group had done.
Nahrstedt said that the Potter Lake Project is a rapidly growing group and has now gotten the support of KU staff and some alumni. Nahrstedt said that a lot of the progress that the Potter Lake Project is making is due to KU Professors.
One of these professors is Peg Livingood, the project manager of design and construction management at KU. Several years ago, Livingood and other professors started a process for the Campus Heritage Plan to understand the history of KU's campus developments. Once they finalized it in 2008, she had a great appreciation for that part of the university.
Livingood said that when she was approached by the group back in 2008, she did not hesitate to start helping.
"When the students came to me wanting to improve the water quality and aesthetics, it was not only a professional interest but a personal interest as well," Livingood said.
Livingood said that recently the KU Alumni magazine and the Endowment magazine had published articles about the project in which donors came forward and contributed a little over $20,000. Livingood believes that the university cares about Potter Lake but does not have the money to support it right now with the recent budget cuts.
Livingood said that the group is looking towards putting an aeration system rather than chemicals to clear the moss and plants. Using aeration, there would be no chance for toxic chemicals when the group cleans out the lake, costing more money to dispose of it.
Statistics on the water runoff from campus roads into Potter Lake.
Graph from the Potter Lake Project proposal.
Other problems that Potter Lake faces are road runoff's. Kenny and Livingood both stressed the issue of how water from many on-campus roads have led to water runoff into Potter Lake, bringing all sorts of tangible objects and different chemicals with it. Recently, the university stopped using chemicals in the lawn around Potter Lake.
"We have a plan right now looking at the reconstruction of Jayhawk Boulevard.," Livingood said. "The street brings salts from the winter, dirt, oil from cars and other things."
Livingood said that she is very confident and exited to see what the group gets accomplished this year.
With the help of Peg Livingood and other KU professors, the Potter Lake Project has come up with a proposal to the university, regarding the importance of the situation and how they can work together to fix it.
If you are interested in the Potter Lake Project, check out the group's Facebook page or contact Matt Nahrstedt at swimpolo@ku.edu.
Needless to say, he was appalled at the condition.
"I really don't see how anything can live in there, the pH balance was low which means more bacteria is growing and it's obvious by the surface," Welch said.
Fortunately, Welch isn't the only student who has noticed how disgusting Potter Lake has gotten. A group of students have recently formed a student group called the Potter Lake Project in hope of one day restoring Potter Lake to its regular, beautiful self. As the group's creators move on from Lawrence, new students have also stepped up and taken newly open roles in the group. Not only are students involved, but also faculty and alumni are trying to figure out the best way to make Potter Lake an enjoyable place to see again.
John Kenny, a recently graduated KU student, co-started the group called the Potter Lake Project back in the spring semester of 2008. The group started out after Kenny and a colleague went to the student senate, urging the board to help them publicize their cause.
Kenny said the student senate helped the group get the word out across campus about its intentions in the Kansan and Lawrence Journal World, but the publicity was short lived after the new student senate elections.
After the new student senate, the group continued their work as an independent student group with little funding and little support.
"There was nobody in the administration or within facility operations who was really encouraging us or giving us any kind of support so it was definitely a student pushed cause at the beginning," Kenny said.
As the Potter Lake Project began to attract new followers, it started to see an increase in its ability to expand outward to more than just students. Their first objective was to find out the history of Potter Lake, dating all the way back to 1911 when it was created. Kenny said Potter Lake used to be a popular swimming pool to KU students, even having diving boards on the side.
In the 1920s and 1930s, a few people died while swimming in the lake. The University banned swimming in Potter Lake, turning it into a relaxing place to enjoy a nice day with park benches, grass areas and grills. In the WW2 era, Potter Lake used to be a social setting for dances. Over the years, Potter Lake became increasingly uncared for, resulting in the mossy swamp it appears to be today.
Kenny and the Potter Lake Project's goal is to restore this once clean and attractive area in the middle of KU's campus back to its original beauty.
"We saw a problem here and looked to see if other people saw the problem with the same sympathy, organized ourselves together and tried to find out what we could get done," Kenny said. "This is something that I am very happy about exploring while I've been here."
The Potter Lake Project has gone to the university multiple times and has been redirected towards the support of alumni.
Kenny said the difficult thing about getting alumni to donate money towards the cleaning out and refurbishing of Potter Lake is that most alumni who make fairly large donations want their name on something.
"Alumni tend to not want to donate towards landscape and natural things surrounding campus because they can't stick their names on there," Kenny said, "but we've been working on some ways that donators can be recognized."
The Potter Lake Project is aimed at cleaning Potter Lake
Matt Nahrstedt, who joined the group in the fall of 2008, will be taking over as president of the Potter Lake Project. Nahrstedt was a freshman at the time he was introduced to the group and became an active member after attending his first meeting.
Nahrstedt said he received an email from the architecture school regarding any interested students wanting to help the community and the school to attend a Potter Lake Project meeting. His reoccurrence at the meeting caught the eye of Kenny, who asked him to take a more prominent role in the group.
"Another member and I took responsibility of figuring out how the group was going to continue after John was gone and ended up being selected to lead the Potter Lake Project," Nahrstedt said.
As of last May, the group had accomplished its first real goal. The Kansas Wildlife and Parks, which has become extremely helpful towards the Potter Lake Project, donated Grass Carp to the group to put in Potter Lake. The Kansas Wildlife and Parks breed Grass Carp, which eat the plants growing in the water. While this does not kill the problem, Nahrstedt said it was the first real accomplishment the group had done.
Nahrstedt said that the Potter Lake Project is a rapidly growing group and has now gotten the support of KU staff and some alumni. Nahrstedt said that a lot of the progress that the Potter Lake Project is making is due to KU Professors.
One of these professors is Peg Livingood, the project manager of design and construction management at KU. Several years ago, Livingood and other professors started a process for the Campus Heritage Plan to understand the history of KU's campus developments. Once they finalized it in 2008, she had a great appreciation for that part of the university.
Livingood said that when she was approached by the group back in 2008, she did not hesitate to start helping.
"When the students came to me wanting to improve the water quality and aesthetics, it was not only a professional interest but a personal interest as well," Livingood said.
Livingood said that recently the KU Alumni magazine and the Endowment magazine had published articles about the project in which donors came forward and contributed a little over $20,000. Livingood believes that the university cares about Potter Lake but does not have the money to support it right now with the recent budget cuts.
Livingood said that the group is looking towards putting an aeration system rather than chemicals to clear the moss and plants. Using aeration, there would be no chance for toxic chemicals when the group cleans out the lake, costing more money to dispose of it.
Statistics on the water runoff from campus roads into Potter Lake.
Graph from the Potter Lake Project proposal.
"We have a plan right now looking at the reconstruction of Jayhawk Boulevard.," Livingood said. "The street brings salts from the winter, dirt, oil from cars and other things."
Livingood said that she is very confident and exited to see what the group gets accomplished this year.
With the help of Peg Livingood and other KU professors, the Potter Lake Project has come up with a proposal to the university, regarding the importance of the situation and how they can work together to fix it.
If you are interested in the Potter Lake Project, check out the group's Facebook page or contact Matt Nahrstedt at swimpolo@ku.edu.
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