The threat to Lake Winnipesaukee is real

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The threat to Lake Winnipesaukee is real
How many times has this happened to you? You bring a guest down to your dock or on your boat and they marvel at the clarity of Lake Winnipesaukee’s water when seeing it for the first time. That clarity is something we take for granted until something jars us back to reality - like the cyanobacteria blooms that impacted many areas around the lake in June.
The reality is that Lake Winnipesaukee’s water quality is under increasing threat and everyone who loves the lake needs to do their part to protect it. It’s easy to be deluded into believing a lake this big, with its abundant spring fed waters will always be clear, clean and safe. Unfortunately, scientific data shows that nutrient levels have increased and clarity levels have decreased over time, increasing the likelihood of cyanobacteria blooms.
Lake Winnipesaukee is the engine that drives economic activity in the Lake’s Region. In 2021, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences at Dartmouth College, NH completed a policy brief for the Lake Winnipesaukee Association (LWA) estimating the total value that Lake Winnipesaukee brings to the Lakes Region at over $17 billion; with $16B of it tied directly to property values.
For those who care about Lake Winnipesaukee, the time to act is now. You have the opportunity for your donation to have 5X the impact due to a grant to LWA from the EPA to battle cyanobacteria and other threats to the lake. In addition to a financial contribution, there are many actions you can take individually and collectively to protect Winnipesaukee’s waters.
The Lake Winnipesaukee Association has monitored the lake’s water quality for over forty years. Since, 2010, LWA has conducted bay area management studies and developed mitigation plans for six of the ten bays that make up the lake. These studies assess phosphorus and other key nutrient levels in the lake and identify where these harmful nutrients are entering each bay. The studies are the critical first step in defining and then addressing the threat to water quality.
Phosphorus is public enemy #1 when it comes to clean lake water. High phosphorus levels are the rocket fuel for cyanobacteria blooms. Lake Kanasatka, a waterbody that feeds into Lake Winnipesaukee in Moultonborough, has experienced consistent and long-term cyanobacteria blooms for the past four summers. These harmful blooms, including the one impacting the lake this week, keep pets and people out of the water, due to the potential nerve and liver toxins that may be released by the cyanobacteria.
Lake Kanasatka has undergone an expensive but hopefully effective treatment of its waters this spring, but such a treatment is impractical for a lake the size of Winnipesaukee.
What can you do to help protect the lake we all love? First, join the Lake Winnipesaukee Association (go to winnipesaukee.org), the group dedicated solely to the protection of our lake. There’s power in numbers. Your contribution will help support and increase a range of LWA activities for monitoring water quality, developing mitigation plans for each bay, working with the towns and individual shorefront owners to implement best practices, and forcefully advocating clean water practices at both the town and state level.
If you are located in the Winnipesaukee watershed, become knowledgeable about what you can do on your property to minimize threats to the lake. A short list: maintain a well vegetated buffer along the shoreline, keep your lawn at least 25 ft back from the lake, use minimum fertilizer with no phosphorus, pump your septic system on a regular basis (usually every three to five years depending on size and use) and make your property LakeSmart.
The bottomline: we can’t take Lake Winnipesaukee’s water quality for granted; active measures at the individual, town and state level are necessary to protect its water quality. Please do all you can to support a clean and clear Lake Winnipesaukee for this and future generations.

Mark Ishkanian of Moultonborough is on the Board of the Lake Winnipesaukee Association. For more info: winnipesaukee.org