{"id":6369,"date":"2024-08-19T15:49:33","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T15:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/?p=6369"},"modified":"2024-08-22T20:20:49","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T20:20:49","slug":"university-lagoon-undergoes-renovations-looks-to-feature-new-walking-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/2024\/08\/19\/university-lagoon-undergoes-renovations-looks-to-feature-new-walking-area\/","title":{"rendered":"University lagoon undergoes renovations, looks to feature new walking area"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION<\/a>) \u2014 The well-known, man made water structure also known as Lake Lagoona, will look different next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lagoon is something students and staff, past and present, have passed by for years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dI know they used to train and do courses out there with canoeing and sailing back in the 80\u2019s,\u201d said Brian Helms, an associate professor of Biology at Troy University that\u2019s very familiar with the lagoon and its purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To many, the lagoon is a murky body of water with even murkier residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MORE:<\/strong> IDEA Bank set to open Student-Made Store featuring student-created products<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201d[It has] really increased nutrients, really increased sediments, suspended solids are really high, electrical conductivity is really high,\u201d Helms said. \u201cIt has all the hallmarks of an impaired system.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lagoon used to be a swimmable body of water. However, over the years, the lagoon received its water, nutrients and residents from sources including a stream from Janice Hawkins Park, a creek from McKinley Drive, storm sewers and city sewage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This meant the lagoon was not meant for people to swim and fish in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Before construction (courtesy Troy University)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
During construction (courtesy Troy University)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201dDefinitely don\u2019t want to swim, definitely would not want to eat anything out of it,\u201d Helms agreed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the University, the dredging of the lagoon is the final phase to restore and beautify the area. It\u2019s a project Helms says could help the water and the organisms that call it home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dDraining that and dredging it and getting rid of all those legacy sediments that are there and everything they\u2019ve carried with them over the decades, if properly disposed, would be a good thing,\u201d Helms explained. \u201cIt would kind of be like a hard reset.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lagoon isn\u2019t the only area getting a facelift. A small wetland located above the lagoon is seeing some change as well.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Lake Lagoona rendering<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The wetland served as a filter between Janice Hawkins Cultural Arts Park<\/a> and the lagoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dBy slowing that water down and getting into the wetland, it really would help absorb anything that\u2019s potentially being carried,\u201d Helms further explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wetland area is now expected to receive an enhanced down-stream water flow system, new walking trails and improved lighting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helms says this is a project that has pros and cons, but it could help reset an area that was biologically disturbed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COMMUNITY NEWS: <\/strong>GoodTimes Bowling opens its doors in Troy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dIt\u2019s important to realize these environments aren\u2019t necessarily static. They\u2019re always kind of changing. They can get out of whack and they take constant tweaking,\u201d Helms told TrojanVision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project began over the summer break and will take months to complete. The University says the project should be completed by the end of Spring 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) \u2014 The well-known, man made water structure also known as Lake Lagoona, will look different next year.<\/p>\n

The lagoon is something students and staff, past and present, have passed by for years. <\/p>\n

\u201dI know they used to train and do courses out there with canoeing and sailing back in the 80\u2019s,\u201d…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":6379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1127],"tags":[1640,45],"topics":[17],"class_list":["post-6369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news","tag-lake-lagoona","tag-troy-university","topics-troy-campus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6369"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6416,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6369\/revisions\/6416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6369"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=6369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}