Boston Globe Article

[John Mercier]

Originally Posted by barefootbay

Too many people , too many Geese ! If steps are not taken soon the lake is TOAST !

Ideas to get rid of people and geese?

[Descant]

Originally Posted by John Mercier

Ideas to get rid of people and geese?

Some in our group celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. Maybe we should serve Canada Goose instead of American Turkey. Same for Boxing Day.

[John Mercier]

It isn't the eating.
It is the acquiring.

They outlawed hunting in most of the watershed.

[barefootbay]

Originally Posted by John Mercier

Ideas to get rid of people and geese?

Getting rid of geese is easy , people not so ! Perhaps I should have said too much money .

[SAB1]

If getting rid of geese was easy they wouldn’t be here lol.

[John Mercier]

Originally Posted by barefootbay

Getting rid of geese is easy , people not so ! Perhaps I should have said too much money .

Not sure that too much money is really the issue.
Lawn is pretty basic from a landscaping standpoint.

While a more luxurious landscape usually involves time and money to achieve.
Time and money being somewhat fungible, as the property owner can hire a gardener or choose to invest their own time in achieving the results.

[Lakegeezer]

Watershed research led by the Lake Winnipesaukee Association shows that big storms are the big problem. The damage is done in only 5-6 events a year, when gully-washers act like Mother Nature yanking a giant toilet handle. All the built-up gunk—leaky septics, phosphorus laden fertilizer, leaves, goose (and dog) poop and road salt flush downhill and straight into Lake Winnipesaukee.

Regulations can’t fix the problem – it has to be a community-wide project.

First step is to reduce the buildup by fixing septic systems, skipping the phosphorus fertilizer near the water, keeping 70% of shoreline properties porous and not cutting down trees that move over 100 gallons of water a day into the air.

But, the real solution is based in reducing storm-water runoff by convincing the those water gushes to absorb into the ground.

During the next gully-washer, toss on a raincoat and check the shoreline. If you see water racing to the lake, add a rain garden, small berm, or trench it into the woods so that it soaks in before reaching the lake.

[Descant]

Lakegeezer makes good points about storm water runoff. In many instances, where regulations don't address soil types and slopes the runoff impact may come from 500 or 1000 feet, not the 250' we now pay attention to. Especially in a year like this one where the watershed has been saturated all through the spring, big storms carry a lot of junk into the lakes, all lakes, not just Winnipesaukee.
In the 60's and 70's we built the Winnipesaukee River drainage project bringing sewer to Lake Winnipesaukee's west side and taking it all to the Franklin Wastewater Treatment Facility. Lots of federal funding. A project like this for the east side of Lake Winnipesaukee would be a great bonus for lake water quality.

[hemlock]

Sewage treatment is important but it doesn't help when your infrastructure fails.

Read the below report and it will give pause.

https://www.centerharbornh.gov/sites...se_1152024.pdf

In addition the town of Wolfeboro added sewer capacity by adding to their existing spray irrigation fields what they called rapid infiltration basins near 19 mile brook. These basins very quickly failed causing nitrate levels to rise in the brook which leads to 19 mile bay.

Center Harbors sewage lagoons are also located above Lake Kanasatka.

It makes one wonder if there is leakage that is escaping notice. Blooms are being noticed in these specific areas.

[SAB1]

Idk if it’s still the case but when I went to the Lakes Region Watershed meeting in Wolfeboro it was stated in that meeting the town of Wolfeboro catching basins all along Main Street drained directly into the lake.

[Descant]

Originally Posted by SAB1

Idk if it’s still the case but when I went to the Lakes Region Watershed meeting in Wolfeboro it was stated in that meeting the town of Wolfeboro catching basins all along Main Street drained directly into the lake.

This is an unfortunate situation in many areas. Combining storm water and sewer water in many instances will overload the ability to handle that volume and the result is overflow into the river or lake. Nationally, there is a "Municipal storm sewer separation system (MS4) requirement to remedy that situation. As you would expect, this is not something that many places can fix quickly or at reasonable expense.

[Descant]

Originally Posted by hemlock

Sewage treatment is important but it doesn't help when your infrastructure fails.

Read the below report and it will give pause.

https://www.centerharbornh.gov/sites...se_1152024.pdf

In addition the town of Wolfeboro added sewer capacity by adding to their existing spray irrigation fields what they called rapid infiltration basins near 19 mile brook. These basins very quickly failed causing nitrate levels to rise in the brook which leads to 19 mile bay.

Center Harbors sewage lagoons are also located above Lake Kanasatka.

It makes one wonder if there is leakage that is escaping notice. Blooms are being noticed in these specific areas.

Thanks for pointing this out. The good part is, the system is monitored electronically and the release was caught in short order. Thus, no negative impacts. A failed septic could leach into the lake for an extended time before it is detected.

[hemlock]

Originally Posted by Descant

Thanks for pointing this out. The good part is, the system is monitored electronically and the release was caught in short order. Thus, no negative impacts. A failed septic could leach into the lake for an extended time before it is detected.

This particular report said nothing about electronic monitoring. The spill was noticed by a neighboring towns public works director as he happened to be driving home from work. The pump was started the previous day. The pump has a capacity of 300 gallons per minute. When these kinds of pumps start-up it is not uncommon for water hammer to cause a failure at a fitting or break a pipe.
It is entirely possible that the breach occurred at startup which would mean that it could have been flowing for 24 hours or more. This would mean that
400000 to 500000 gallon of untreated sewage flowed directly into Winni. The report also said that this happened previously on November 10th 2023, January 16 2024 and November 4th and 5th of 2024. The scale of this event
is not comparable to a failed septic. Take a look at the photos in the report!

[BillTex]

Originally Posted by Lakegeezer

Watershed research led by the Lake Winnipesaukee Association shows that big storms are the big problem. The damage is done in only 5-6 events a year, when gully-washers act like Mother Nature yanking a giant toilet handle. All the built-up gunk—leaky septics, phosphorus laden fertilizer, leaves, goose (and dog) poop and road salt flush downhill and straight into Lake Winnipesaukee.

Regulations can’t fix the problem – it has to be a community-wide project.

First step is to reduce the buildup by fixing septic systems, skipping the phosphorus fertilizer near the water, keeping 70% of shoreline properties porous and not cutting down trees that move over 100 gallons of water a day into the air.

But, the real solution is based in reducing storm-water runoff by convincing the those water gushes to absorb into the ground.

During the next gully-washer, toss on a raincoat and check the shoreline. If you see water racing to the lake, add a rain garden, small berm, or trench it into the woods so that it soaks in before reaching the lake.

This. And anybody can do this on their property at little/no cost. Another issue is roof run off: boat houses, sheds, etc that are close to the shore should have gutter to direct water away from lakes.

[SAB1]

Last year I believe we had several blooms that appeared in Cary Beach area of Wolfeboro and also around 19 mile Bay Area in Tuftonboro. So far I have not seen notice of Cyanobacteria this year. Can’t help but think the good ice cover we had this winter played a part in that, especially with the rain we had May thru early June.

[barefootbay]

Originally Posted by Lakegeezer

Watershed research led by the Lake Winnipesaukee Association shows that big storms are the big problem. The damage is done in only 5-6 events a year, when gully-washers act like Mother Nature yanking a giant toilet handle. All the built-up gunk—leaky septics, phosphorus laden fertilizer, leaves, goose (and dog) poop and road salt flush downhill and straight into Lake Winnipesaukee.

Regulations can’t fix the problem – it has to be a community-wide project.

First step is to reduce the buildup by fixing septic systems, skipping the phosphorus fertilizer near the water, keeping 70% of shoreline properties porous and not cutting down trees that move over 100 gallons of water a day into the air.

But, the real solution is based in reducing storm-water runoff by convincing the those water gushes to absorb into the ground.

During the next gully-washer, toss on a raincoat and check the shoreline. If you see water racing to the lake, add a rain garden, small berm, or trench it into the woods so that it soaks in before reaching the lake.

Loose your lawn, geese love to graze on green grass !

[ishoot308]

Lose all the ice eaters along the shore and docks and allow the ice form in the winter! It’s a proven fact that without ice the sun causes more weed and algae growth!

Dan

[SAB1]

I often wonder about the effect of the ice eaters. My gut says it’s a small part but I’m not an expert. They are annoying though. Some places it’s tough to get onto the ice to fish or snowmobile because of them. I put that directly on the State though. They are to blame for allowing all the permanent docks, boathouses and breakwaters where people use them. Can’t blame the people who have them, it’s legal and they are protecting their assets. Crazy and you still see them being built.

[John Mercier]

The State Budget gets a lot of revenue from boating.
They just have to be careful what they expense, because we are near a peak.