Testing a diversion wall before building it
The problem
In-lake engineering works are expensive and hard to reverse. Before committing to an inflow diversion wall intended to manage eutrophication across two hydrologically connected lakes, decision-makers needed evidence that it would actually work — and wouldn’t shift the problem downstream.
The approach
A coupled hydrodynamic–ecological model simulated water movement, nutrients and algal response under the existing configuration and with the proposed wall in place.
- Calibration against monitoring data for both lakes
- Scenario comparison: baseline vs. diversion
- Attention to the connected-lake interaction — what helps one lake may load the other
The outcome
A quantitative basis for the design decision, with the trade-offs between the two lakes made explicit rather than discovered after construction.
Published as Efficacy of an inflow diversion wall for managing eutrophication in two hydrologically connected lakes: A modelling study — Ecological Engineering (2026).