First Cyanobacteria Warnings of 2024 Issued for Lake Winnipesaukee

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by tis

That's what I am thinking, that we didn't have the testing we have today. I believe you, we were told not to drink the water when we were kids. We have so many keyboard experts, I am tired of reading the same thing over and over. They are so sure it is cause by fertilizer or septic. I am sure there are many more reasons.

My personal belief is more phosphorus is introduced into the lake by homes that are not directly on the lake. Storm drains that dump untreated water from all the surrounding roads has to be a major issue.

Also, I live on route 11 and that entire stretch of road from Laconia to Alton Bay including Scenic Drive which runs parallel to route 11 and is directly on the water, is so heavily treated with salt and other various ice melting chemicals that I won’t even walk my dog down that road in the winter for fear of what it may do to her feet! That simply can’t be good for all that to wash directly into the lake!

Dan

[tis]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

My personal belief is more phosphorus is introduced into the lake by homes that are not directly on the lake. Storm drains that dump untreated water from all the surrounding roads has to be a major issue.

Also, I live on route 11 and that entire stretch of road from Laconia to Alton Bay including Scenic Drive which runs parallel to route 11 and is directly on the water, is so heavily treated with salt and other various ice melting chemicals that I won’t even walk my dog down that road in the winter for fear of what it may do to her feet! That simply can’t be good for all that to wash directly into the lake!

Dan

Exactly. I know Port Wedeln has a problem because the taxpayers were asked to spend something like $400, 000 to stop the water from running off into the lake and then upped it to around a million. And I am sure there are lots of others like that. As you said, chemicals can't help.

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

My personal belief is more phosphorus is introduced into the lake by homes that are not directly on the lake. Storm drains that dump untreated water from all the surrounding roads has to be a major issue.

Also, I live on route 11 and that entire stretch of road from Laconia to Alton Bay including Scenic Drive which runs parallel to route 11 and is directly on the water, is so heavily treated with salt and other various ice melting chemicals that I won’t even walk my dog down that road in the winter for fear of what it may do to her feet! That simply can’t be good for all that to wash directly into the lake!

Dan

There's an LWA presentation that I saw years ago (it might be on the website?) that agrees with this. It described the towns around the lake forming a watershed, like a giant bowl, and everything in the bowl collects on the bottom.

I don't know about your pollution point in the 50s-70s, gratefully too young to remember, but I would not doubt this. Nixon started the EPA in the early 70s and that has done a lot with cars, boats, factories, etc. I am optimistic that we can beat this different kind of problem today

[John Mercier]

The 50s - 70s was more about the immediate effects of manure/septic.

We had a lot of E Coli issues (still do)... but those are different than phosphorous.

We can also DNA test the E Coli to determine, or at least narrow the scope, of the species that it came from.

[ApS]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

There's an LWA presentation that I saw years ago (it might be on the website?) that agrees with this. It described the towns around the lake forming a watershed, like a giant bowl, and everything in the bowl collects on the bottom.

I don't know about your pollution point in the 50s-70s, gratefully too young to remember, but I would not doubt this. Nixon started the EPA in the early 70s and that has done a lot with cars, boats, factories, etc. I am optimistic that we can beat this different kind of problem today

In the 1950s, our nextdoor neighbors on the lake installed a new device that washed dishes. How quaint just for a summer season. We still use the sink.

Later, we found out that to insure wine glasses were spotless afterwards, the content of dishwasher soap was "improved" by adding an extremely high level of Phosphorus. Phosphorus settled deeply into the latest leaching field designs which, 50 years later, are now far beyond their expected lifetime. Decades passed before Phosphorus was notably decreased in dishwasher detergents.

This season's artificially high water level is pulling the sequestered Phosphorus out from those lakefront subsoils into the lake.

Tuesday's strong winds broke up the concentrations of blue-green cyanobacteria.

It'll be back.