Let’s Talk about Cyanobacteria!
 

Join us for a presentation on cyanobacteria, what is it, what are the health concerns, and what is the LWA doing about it, as well as what can you do?

There are two opportunities for you to learn about this important issue. The LWA will present on cyanobacteria on July 31st at Moultonborough Public Library, from 5-6pm. A second talk will be held on August 1st at the Wolfeboro Town Hall, in the Great Room, from 4-5pm.

These programs are free and open to the public. Pre-registration is not required, but much appreciated. Please register here.

Highly recommended sessions!

I attended one of these a few years ago in Moultonborough, and it was an hour well spent. Everything you could want to know about cyanobacteria.

Recordings?
 

I hope these will be recorded and available on Youtube or the LWA website.

Reminder
 

We are working on having the Wolfeboro talk recorded by Wolfeboro Community Television and the powerpoint slides will be available on our website next week. The Moultonborough talk is unable to be recorded.

As a reminder, we are asking folks to pre-register so we can have a general idea of attendance. Please do so at the link below.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...eRBJA/viewform

If you run into any issues please email me at brossiter@winnipesaukee.org.

Thank you and I hope to see you there!

This should be the goal of Lake Winnipesaukee.. Interesting video, a lot of good points

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6bgvGdMQM

I’m sure all the out of state money with big homes and green lawns on the lake could care less about this. Very sad.


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I second this!

Lake Sebago, a Parsec Away from Lake Winnipesaukee...
 

I never thought I'd last through 24 minutes of a Q and A session, but I did...! :coolsm:

Notice the landscape (not so much the Loons surfacing) behind the speaker, as he says that it's the trees that keep Lake Sebago water's purity intact. (And that the majority of the trees are White Pine).
Even though the dock and boats tied to it are relatively small, they don't dominate the surroundings. (You may have to search the areas "tucked between the trees" in the background for them).

It's essential that Sebago keep its cleanliness, as it's a reservoir for the City of Portland, as well as the seven surrounding towns that border it.

No such concerns exist here (until lately) upon reaching a crisis where swimmers, skiers, tubers and bathers begin to show evidence of longterm neurological distress. :eek:

Often supported by Federal Grants, methodologies by the state of Maine make it easy to keep forests intact along the shorefront.

:look:

Right now, you add market value by renovating the kitchen. I hope someday you will get improved market value by owning a "Lake Smart certified" home. Maybe our local state reps could add to this with a related tax credit? Many towns treat solar panels favorably.

The state needs to get proactive about the burgeoning goose population and their disastrous effect on the lake !!

I believe that solar panels are tax favored by not including them in the assessment.

While landscaping can make one home sell for more than another, the real benefit may be found in lower days on market - really not a problem with lakefront.

I think it will take more of a mindset change in the buyers.

IDK anymore. It could just be wasting your money too. You don't know if the new owners are going to tear it down or totally renovated it to their own tastes.

You are so right. They are disgusting. I can't imagine what they are doing to the lake. Somebody said there was a group of them hanging around the Alton beach the last few days and what happens? It closes because of ecoli.

Why is it always “out of state money”? Are we to believe that no one in NH has enough money to build a big home with a green lawn on the lake?


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I believe they may be inferring that a non-resident would have less concern than a resident.

John you always have answers but I have to tell you. I almost never correct somebody, who cares, but you need to figure out the difference between implying and inferring. I have seen you infer instead of imply more than once.:laugh::laugh:

You are right, I see that often.

The poster wasn't suggesting it indirectly. They were stating it as fact from observed social behavior.

August 19 and 20, 2024: Lake Winnipesaukee; Alton, Wolfeboro, Tuftonboro
 

From the NH DES Healthy Swimming Mapper

Alton area, Lake Winnipesaukee: Cyanobacteria watch (alert) issued Aug 19, 2024

Wolfeboro area, Lake Winnipesaukee: Cyanobacteria warning issued August 19, 2024; bloom description; light green surface ribbons and clouds of material accumulating along shorelines.

Initial Cyanobacteria identified: Gleotrichia with a density of 1,562,500


Tuftonboro area, Lake Winnipesaukee: Cyanobacteria warning issued August 20, 2024; bloom description; clouds and light ribbons of small dots in the water.

Initial Cyanobacteria identified: Gleotrichia with a density of 105,000

Aug 20, 2024: Corcoran Pond posted orange DES warning signs
 

Today is Wednesday, Aug 21 and apparently the NH DES posted two new orange warning signs, yesterday Aug 20, into the shoreline sandy town Waterville Valley beach, close to the pond water, "Unsafe for Swimming or Wading." The water surface looks very clean and clear with no visible green/blue Cyano growth and the water temp has dropped a lot in the last week probably dropping from about 70 down to 64, or so. Corcoran Pond is a beautiful 7-acre, dammed resort water body in Snow's Brook with a large town dock, kayak, canoe and sup rentals, and a large town sandy beach.

In the last seven days, Aug 15-21, the Lake Winnipesaukee water temp has dropped from 75 down to 70 which is a very steep decline. Is noticed these new Cyano warnings for Alton-Wolfeboro-Tuftonboro, Lake Winnipesaukee come with water temperatures getting colder, relatively fast, so maybe the colder water and the Cyano is related.

I went swimming about 100-yards in Corcoran Pond two days ago, Monday Aug 19, for 100-yards and it was wicked cold, 65-degrees, and now if I could go back in I would definitely wear an O'Neal thermo top and a neoprene vest and a foam noodle swim belt. 64-degree water on a 60-degree, cloudy day is just too cold and not too safe for swimming the deep water, alone.

When the orange warning NH DES signs are posted into the sand, people have still been allowed to swim and wade the water at Weirs Beach, Laconia. In Waterville Valley the Corcoran Pond is closed to swimming and wading and last July, 2023, I got evicted while swimming Corcoran Pond by two local cops ...... "hey you, this pond is closed, you see those orange signs, GET OUT, is not safe for swimming!"

I always do the breast stroke or side stroke, resting long distance strokes, and keep my head and face out of the water in Corcoran Pond. Maybe this swim style can be named the Cyano stroke ...... ha-ha-ha! ..... :banana:

No Big House, No Big Green Lawn, but, Big Geese Problem!
 

Barefootbay and TIS are right.

We have owned a small camp in Moultonborough for over 40 years. Over the last 5 years we have witnessed what used to be 2-3 geese a year swimming by to what is now with no exaggeration, 25-40 geese every day. The droppings on our property is sickening; they are aggressive and what they have done to our property is really unhealthy for everyone but, especially, for our young grandchildren.

While we don't own a big house or a lush, green lawn, I'm uncomfortable pushing the over use of fertilizer, and old, failing septic system problems without also giving the geese over population problem serious consideration.

It's now beyond the high time to deal with this issue that has grown exponentially. Losing Winnipesaukee's beauty, its quality of water, and the revenue small businesses experience around the lake would be a colossal mistake. We are all guardians of this precious natural resource for our time; hopefully, our children and grandchildren will have a similar opportunity to enjoy Winnipeaukee for many years to come. As stewards, we not let this issue go unresolved.

The Department of Environmental Services and Governor Sununu need to get serious before Winnipesauke & Cyanobacteria are synonymous with DANGER No Swimming Polluted Water become the top daily/weekly news bulletin.

I’m afraid that the state won’t get proactive until the water quality in the lake starts affecting tourism which in turn means loss of revenue. I believe that day isn’t far off !

This is such a bummer, so sorry to read about your experience. Do you have a broad flat waterfront? If yes, planting a row of blueberry bushes or other shrubs at the shoreline will keep the geese off your land. Just leave a 3-4' opening for swimmers.

But the geese are no reason to stop pushing against fertilizer, septic, and other issues. One problem is that there are different government bodies that handle each of them. Septic are typically town rules, fertilizer currently state, I'm pretty sure Canadian Geese are subject to an international treaty. We all have to fight all these threats at once

I think everyone agrees that there are several contributing factors to the lake quality. We can’t ignore any of them in favor of one. The talking has to stop and action has to begin.

The State is septic also I believe.

But a coherent argument for change must be based on the question why certain lakes have problems and others do not?

What are the restrictions that exist for Squam Lake? Are they allowed to have grass around their homes? Do the septic systems have to be checked on a regular basis? Have they banned the use of fertilizer? I’ve never heard of any geese being on Squam Lake. and I’ve never heard of Squam Lake having cyano bacteria. Do the people that live there just care more than the people on Winnepesaukee and other lakes?

Squam
 

Actually Sue, Squam has a very serious problem of PCB contamination. The state only recommends eating no more than three meals of fish per month from that lake and that includes little Squam because of dangerously high PCB contamination. So in reality Winnipesaukee is a lot cleaner than Squam…

Dan

Leaving aside the specifics that could be debated endlessly, the gists of these posts are both true. The Squam community is generally more environmentally-minded than the Winnipesaukee community, but the PCB issue in Squam, not caused by the community in general, is very serious

Well, since PCB’s are completely man made and not natural to the environment and the only way water is contaminated by them is through reckless or purposeful release into the environment by man, I would say that someone in the “community” at some point caused this…

Since PCB’s have been banned since 1979, someone from the “glory days”, you know the glory days back when the water was so much cleaner….:rolleye2: caused this issue.

As an fyi…Squam has the highest concentration of PCB contamination than any other lake in NH. I would rather swim in Winnipesaukee than Squam any day of the week! While skin contact is most likely not harmful, any ingestion of contaminated water is not good.

Dan

But is the high level of PCB's keeping the geese population down?
Why doesn't Newfound have a geese issue?

The amount of food obtained from a much larger population of visitors and residents not to mention the lakeside lawns for grazing around lake Winnipesaukee !

Well, this is discouraging. Does anyone know if there are actually any lakes in New Hampshire that are considered clean?

Newfound is supposed to be the cleanest.

The PCBs have been banned, but working them out of the system after it is in the system takes a lot of time and effort... effort that we just aren't willing to put forth.

I would expect Massabesic. to be clean. As a water supply, many activities have been banned for many years. I recall, accurately I hope, an application to the Clean Drinking and Groundwater fund to assist in buying shorefront for watershed protection. This fund was started by Senator Chuck Morse in 2016 with original funding from MtBE settlement money from Exxon. It does all sorts of things from outright grants to low cost revolving loans for municipal water programs. His legislation set it up as a trust so the legislature couldn't raid the money for other purposes. We (Merrimack) got a $400K matching grant to help build filter/treatment facilities for PFAS.

More bad news for you…Massabesic actually has high mercury levels. This is mainly due to Tower Hill Pond which feeds into it is so polluted with Mercury that fish cannot be eaten from it. The reason for the high mercury is being downwind from the Bow power plant (coal burning) for many years before mercury filtration was in place. Actually every body of water in close proximity and southeast of the bow plant has been decimated with mercury….


Dan

The Tuftonboro Old Home Week cardboard boat races at 19 Mile Bay have been cancelled because of cyanobacteria.

disappointing
 

That's disappointing, Dan. Need a button for that response, sort of like the "Thanks" button. Attacking this from the other direction, are there lakes where the fish ARE OK to eat without restriction? I hope nobody starts testing lobster for impurities.

Oh yes there a quite a few where it’s ok to eat the fish. Stocked fish like landlocked salmon, rainbow trout, brook trout, etc , etc, are your safest bet. If your going to eat other species like perch, bass and other natural lake reproducing fish, the smaller / younger the better as the longer they are in the water the more mercury they accumulate.

I believe NHF&G has a complete list of lakes where there are issues and what the recommendations are regarding fish consumption…

Dan

I think we agree on the central issues, so I'm confused as to why you're coming at me on this. No doubt the PCB issue was caused by one or more people in the community.

But I wrote the "community in general". I don't really count a single polluting company as as the community in general. This is similar to me not thinking of criminals as representative of the community in general.

I wasn’t coming at you and apologize if I came across that way…we are in agreement!

Dan

Maybe I'm too touchy on this stuff. Cheers

Back To Geese....
 

Squam Lake has the problem of too many small sailboats. :eek2:

I don't recall seeing any lawns.

:confused:

But wherever will Winnipesaukee's absentee landlords put their lawns?

McMansions are rented out to multiple families--some have multiple families at the same time!

I'd be curious about Squam's geese, too. We've mostly heard about the hazardous-fish-eating issue.

:look:

State needs to ban lawns within 50' of the water unless it's municipal with no pesticides being used such as Alton Bay or Center Harbor

This is getting ridiculous. If the homeowners aren't responsible enough to do the right thing, force them to.

The geese don't actually need it to be within 50' of water.
They like it freshly mowed. Easy to get the tender young shoots and bugs.

Same with my yard, when we mow to promote clover, the chickens next door come over and eat all the bugs... and of course leave the manure behind.

A Good Start...
 

Actually, "municipal" should show the way...

Wow! Then nobody can have a lawn because it runs off from a lot further than 50'.

Achtung, yes, property rights be damned. Hail the Collective.


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If your neighbor decides to dump toxic waste on his property and it seeps onto your land or the water you share would you be saying "oh well, he has property rights?" I say this as a long time libertarian who recognizes sometimes rights come into conflict

Run-off that would be true... and laws exist for that.
But the geese are really not quite the same.

The person establishing the lawn deals with the wildlife that it attracts... pretty much like any other landscape or feature. Think of it like a bear getting at your bird feeder or a skunk/racoon going for your garbage can.

Yes he has property rights just like his neighbor. However in tour posited scenario he would have created a private nuisance by allowing the seepage into the neighbor’s yard and would be accountable for the damage to the neighbor’s yard. I was reacting more to the other proposal, the governmental fiat.


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I failed at finding the edit function. lol


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Lake Frances in Pittsburg and Clarksville, NH, way up north
 

Way up north, Lake Frances, Aug 27, 2024, has an orange rectangle for Cyanobacteria alert on the NH DES Healthy Swimming Mapper based on photographs sent in to the DES that can be viewed on the Swimming Mapper. Pittsburg is the northern most town in New Hampshire.

The NH DES does not travel that far north to do inspections and goes as far north as Jericho Pond in Jericho State Park in Berlin, NH on a regular basis.

Based on photos submitted that show 'green clouds of material along shoreline" the NH DES has placed Lake Frances on the map with an orange rectangle that is way up north, not far from the Canada border.

You can look at the photos for Lake Frances in the Healthy Swimming Mapper.

Lake Frances has never been present on the NH DES Healthy Swimming Mapper before, so this is its debut appearance!

Meanwhile the two orange Cyanobacteria warnings issued August 20 remain in place today, August 27 on Corcoran's Pond so it is still closed to swimming by the Town of Waterville Valley. Besides the Cyanobacteria warning, the water temperature is now a cold 65-degrees, which is cold for safe swimming out over your head depth.

People screaming and yelling and using the lake as a bathroom as they anchor/raft is ok despite the fact it affects people.

The bloom resurfaced on the northwest side of Barndoor Island this morning. Swimming is not an option as the water is truly disgusting.

I have to wonder...with these blooms recurring and being problematical, will this affect lake front property values in the future?

Although there are different opinions on the best way to address the issue the folks who read this site are obviously well informed that we have a water quality problem in the lakes region. As popular as this site may be its readers are a small minority. Makes me wonder how much the average local or even waterfront home owner is actually aware of the problem. I would think that those spending 5 million plus on waterfront homes with big green lawns would want to protect their investments.

Randy Owen the owner of a portion of Farm Island in Tuftonboro seems to think he has the answer, check out his Facebook page. He claims he is in contact with Erin Brockovich!

What, him again?

Mr. "I'll get you campers" guy?

Dismiss his ideas to the slag heap.

If people can’t recreate in and on the lake and it is a health issue as well as aesthetic . It will become a major lake front real estate issue not to mention a tourist deterrent !

Just saw yesterday they have found the same algae blooms in Lake Francis up in Pittsburg. I don’t think there’s many lush lawns there.

Goose plague !

Do you have a link to the story?
I couldn't find it.

It's everywhere. I heard it's even in the ocean.

You are right, tis. In the ocean, it is called red tide. And it is everywhere.

Correct. There's loads of it just in a teaspoon of average topsoil. And it's always been in the lake...always will. The issue is the combination of nutrient loading and temperature. The more nutrients (phosphorous and nitrogen) the more growth. So, the same nutrients used on lawns, and P leaching from septic systems, fuels the growth of blooms. Simple.

Is it the same as red tide? I didn't know that.

No -- not the same thing, although they share some similarities. Karenia brevis causes "red tide" algal blooms in salt water. Cyanobacteria is a fresh water thing. But both are triggered by elevated nutrient levels that are exacerbated by humans. And they both can release toxins.

There are now red warning signs posted to the Shep Browns docks.

Just got back from a ride. Amazing how expansive the areas are when you get into it. South end of Cow Island all the way up to and beyond south end of Sandy is covered with the stuff. Another bad area was the water between Round and Timber.

Dumb question perhaps, but can this stuff be harvested when in bloom and put to good use somehow?

Use fine nets to scoop it up then remove it.

I haven't seen it: is it too fine to be caught in a fine mesh net?

Barber Pole?

It would be cool to have Julia Roberts in the lake region :emb:

Observing Gloeotrichia for Decades...
 

Gloeotrichia could be filtered with a paper coffee filter, but there's probably a billion gallons of Winnipesaukee's surface waters that would need to be filtered.

But is Gloeotrichia the more-dangerous of our several cyanobacteria species?

Some excellent news; after ten days the two yellow signs, "Unsafe for Swimming or Wading" were removed yesterday, August 30 by the NH DES and the cold 65-degree Corcoran's Pond is now open to swimming. Is now open to go swim my 200-yards in the icy cold water with a neoprene vest, O'Neal thermo, and foam noodle swim flotation belt, doing the breast/side stroke and keeping my face and head out of the water.

Gimme some sun and 86-degree heat ........ get ready for the September Summer!

Good timing ...... what with the Waterville Valley, Sat-Sun-Mon Labor Day weekend ...... those yellow 'fecal bacteria' warning, Unsafe for Swimming and Wading signs are no longer present. So, did the Governor have anything to do with this or was it just coincidental? Whatever, unless you is a moose, the water is probably too danged cold now, in Corcoran's Pond.

The real estate prices have skyrocketed on Squam.

I don't know of a Goose problem on Squam , but I do know of only 2 lawns

Saw a new sign posted over one of the red ones tonight. I think the wording has been softened a little.

https://www.des.nh.gov/sites/g/files...cyano-sign.pdf

They must have had a bloom at the Waukewan beach on Saturday. When I went by about 10am they were putting those floating warning flags about 100 feet off shore from the boat launch to the beach but I still saw people swimming.