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The Lake
Hills Association |
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John Kristy has
been sampling the water quality since 1994 and has noted a deterioration
of the water quality. A certified lab performs Enterococci and E-coli
colony counts on our water samples identical to those for town and state
beaches. A level below 60 is considered safe for swimming. In 1994 every
beach was below 60 at every test and therefore safe for the entire
season, a perfect year. In 1997 out of a total of 24 tests 8 were above
60. That's a failure rate of 30%; 1 (one) out of 3 (three) times the
water was tested it was above the state safety limit.
Each goose and swan produces 1 (one) pound of manure per day in or around the lake. Given an estimate of 30 birds (a conservative estimate in my opinion) living on the lake that comes to 210 (two hundred and ten) pounds of manure per week and 840 (eight hundred and forty) pounds per month of fecal material being dumped in our swimming and fishing areas. These feces not only contaminate our lake with fecal bacteria (Enterococci) but also can carry Salmonella. They also fertilize the weeds and algae to aggravate these problems too. What can we do to protect our precious common resource? 1. At the very least, don't encourage the geese and swans by feeding them. 2. Discourage geese from feeding on lake front property - they love lawns. Members at Beach 4 erected inexpensive orange plastic fencing along the beach and common areas, which significantly helped control the geese there. However, unless everyone works together the birds will move from one area to another. We must discourage them now because once their offspring arrive they won't leave. 3. The Association has a state permit to allow us to legally addle the eggs. Addling the eggs means shaking them to render them unviable so they won't hatch. If you take or destroy the eggs the geese will simply replace them by laying new ones but will sit on addled eggs and not lay anymore. 4. Limit our properties run off which might either directly pollute the lake or fertilize the weeds and algae. According to Charles Lee, Senior Environmental Analyst, for the DEP, the watershed which provides runoff for our lake encompasses 16,960 acres! So it is not just the lakefront owners who directly influence the lake by activity on their property. Remember putting something on your lawn is like pouring it in the lake - some will eventually get there. Our community is based on the shared resource of our lake - if we don't all share in the responsibility to maintain it we'll all suffer as it deteriorates. John Kristy encourages the entire Lake Hills community to join together to preserve and protect our most valuable resource.
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Each
year as the summer swim, fish, picnic and fun season approaches John
Kristy, chairman of the Lake Hills Association Ecology Committee, would
like to encourage a preventative maintenance approach to our lake's
health.
Consultations with officials from the town Department of Health,
the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection), Association members
and a variety of published materials all point to the same conclusions.
Large waterfowl, geese and swans are responsible for polluting our lake.