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“The purpose of the Lake Nipmuc Association is to
encourage, organize and support programs and activities that promote,
restore and maintain the ecological health of Lake Nipmuc through involvement in issues
of Lake quality and watershed protection and management.” (From the bylaw)
Of those programs
and activities, one of the most important, and the one most commonly
addressed by Lake Associations, is the quality of the water. Of course, it
is difficult to tell exactly what threats there are to that quality or to
have an understanding of the conditions in the lake unless we do some
testing.
After learning
that the various federal and state entities had received no funding to
loan testing equipment to Lake Associations, I did receive a note from
Warren Kimball of the Department of Environmental Protection suggesting
that I contact Tammy Gilpatrick. Tammy is the Volunteer Monitoring
Coordinator for the Blackstone River Coalition. The Blackstone River
Watershed Association is part of that coalition and Tammy is on the BRWA
Board of Directors, along with Michelle and myself. Some of you may know
her as she grew up in Mendon.
I did contact Tammy
and, as I related to the members at the last meeting, she suggested that
we begin testing for e coli since serious pathogenic and gastrointestinal
diseases can be caused by that organism. We agreed to meet prior to Last
Thursday’s BRWA board meeting to discuss this further. I think I asked all
of the questions posed by members and here is a report of the results.
Please keep in mind
that all of the following is open to discussion and vote at our April
meeting:
1.
Locations for testing: 5 locations at various points around the
lake.
2.
Frequency of testing: Tammy suggested once weekly but once or twice
monthly is an option. Testing should begin in May and testing after a
storm event should be included.
3.
Procedure: Tammy will train us on how to take samples. We deliver
the samples to what we call the Red House at Riverbend Farm in Uxbridge.
Tammy has volunteered to use the equipment there to
perform the testing
for us.
4.
Discrimination between human and goose bacteria: This will be part
of the testing. Tammy has the equipment and expertise to do this test.
5.
Expense: We would have to pay for the cost of the reagents used in
the testing. This is $25. per testing, so if we were to test monthly, it
would be $25. per month. (I don’t have the documents in front of me but
didn’t we have information that the town pays between 4 and 5 thousand for
the weekly testing during the 10 weeks or so that the beach is open? If
so, this is quite a bargain.)
In regards to testing for nitrates and phosphates
from lawn fertilizer run off, if you like, I might be able to add that to
my regular monthly Water Quality Monitoring schedule. (I will be doing
extra testing on the Mill River to pinpoint the source of high levels of
phosphates causing long standing problems, but I can probably fit us in.)
Remember the function of fertilizer is to make grass
and plants grow. It also makes aquatic plants grow, resulting in more
chemicals being added to the water to kill those plants. This is troubling
to a number of people. Not to mention the cost to the town which was, I
believe, $20,000 dollars. Even if this is mostly paid for be the state, it
is coming out of our pockets one way or another. If unacceptable levels
are found, we can publicize that information to motivate people to put in
buffer zones.
I can also test for oxygen. I’ve been doing that for
5 years and it is no problem.
If anyone has additional questions prior to the
meeting, please let me know and I will try to find the answers.
Shirley |
