At first glance, a lake may seem calm and unchanging. Yet beneath its surface, countless processes are constantly taking place, benefiting both nature and people. Our Environmental Management Research Laboratory at Mykolas Romeris University (MRU) is one of the partners working on the “Lakes Go Digital” project, which explores how smart technologies can help us better understand and protect urban lakes. A new project video takes a closer look at the hidden “superpowers” of healthy lakes and why understanding their condition matters.

Lakes provide a wide range of ecosystem services – they help filter water and regulate the local climate, support biodiversity, and provide spaces for recreation and other activities. However, these ecosystems are vulnerable to pollution, climate change, and other environmental pressures, whose effects are not always immediately visible.

This is why “Lakes Go Digital” uses smart technologies to better understand and protect lakes. All six of the project’s smart buoys are now operating in Lake Mastis and Lake Germantas in Lithuania and four lakes in Latvia, forming a cross-border real-time monitoring network. The buoys measure key water quality parameters every minute, providing researchers with valuable data to better understand changes in lake ecosystems and helping municipalities make more informed decisions.

But what does a healthy lake actually provide for us every day? What is happening beneath its surface, and how can technology help us see what the human eye cannot?

Discover more in the new “Lakes Go Digital” video: 

 The project is funded by the Interreg VI-A Latvia–Lithuania Programme 2021–2027