Lake Nipmuc Assoc Meeting Minutes September 2008.doc (Microsoft Word, 32KB)

Lake Nipmuc Association Meeting

Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 7pm

Mendon Senior Center

Meeting called to order at 7pm.

New membership update – seven new members joined since July.

Treasurer’s report – Total income equals $885.02. Money was paid to the BRC in the amount of $105.00 for water testing and to Ileen Matthews in the amount of $46.62 for expenses incurred for the newsletter.

·         Stormwater Update – Shirley S.

Shirley spoke with Jessica Kenney at MHD and Ms. Kenney stated that new catch basins will be installed at the end of September. They also plan to remove the pipe causing sedimentation build up and the sediment itself at the location on Route 16 near Shea Engineering. 

·         Lake Monitoring – Shirley S.

Shirley set up a snap shot of results from the on-going water testing. Results are disclosed on Lake Nipmuc’s website at www.lakenipmuc.com.

During the summer the lake was closed due to a suspicious brown floating weed-type substance identified by lifeguards at Mendon beach. Fortunately, the testing came up negative for e-coli, however, lake residents felt it was premature to close the lake for an entire week based on the observations.

The Association has put forth an idea to educate lifeguards on typical weed occurrence. This is an attempt to minimize any closings next summer.

There was also a question about lab results turnaround time. The Board of Health uses a company in Marlborough to test samples.

Public Access

The Eagle Scout that proposed cleaning out a public access near the beach has been unavailable. Therefore, the project is put on hold until Sue B. can find another Eagle Scout interested in taking on the project.

Invasive Plant Life

Shirley wrote an article which was recently published in the Town Crier on the facts about Purple Loosestrife and what chaos it can cause within the aquatic chain.

Several members went out at the end of July to eradicate the plant by using a method taught by Weed Watchers. The technique includes breaking the plant at the stem, bagging the flower head, and spraying the left over stem with round up. This should be done over a three year period and should stop the plant from spreading. It’s best to use this technique at the end of July to the beginning of August before the flowers turn to seed.

Another invasive on the lake is a certain type of water lily. These can be removed by dredging the area. Shirley suggested a fundraiser so the Association could afford to contract out the work since there are a lot of lilies to be removed.

Water testing

            Ileen M. and Shirley S. measured depth, clarity and dissolved oxygen at different locations on the lake.

The depth measurement shows how much the lake has filled in since the last recorded measurements. In 1992 deepest part measured 25 ft. Per the recent measurements it’s approximately 22 ft.

A Secchi disc was used to measure clarity. This is a black and white plate that is lowered until no longer visible. In 1992 the clarity was 15 ft. The best measurement we could get was 9 ft. Decreased clarity is the result of sediments suspended in the water, organic growth such as algae, and pollution.

Decomposing organic matter can deplete oxygen levels. Fish and other aquatic organisms become stressed if oxygen levels are low. There was a lower oxygen reading at the bottom of Lake Nipmuc than near the surface. This is it is not cause for concern at this time.

            Newsletter

            Need to determine next date of issue of the newsletter – sometime in November.

            Next Meeting

·         Mendon Senior Center - Thursday, October 2^nd at 7pm.

·         Meeting adjourned at approximately 9pm

This page was last updated on 01/03/09.