Don't drink the water
 

Life is for learning. For the first time in 55 years I picked up a microorganism and an ear infection after spending the day swimming at public beaches on the same day on the northern end of the lake. To think that in the 60s houses ran pipes from the basements to about 40 feet out in the lake for a water source. There are natural springs near Cooks Pt. where you can watch the water blowing the sand up at about 12 feet deep. That's not enough to keep up with what's being put into the lake at this point. It's all about the feces and urine from humans and animals. You may think that I'm full of feces that's fine aren't we all? Haters will hate and I'm not hugging trees I like nature and powersports. The organism I picked up comes from cysts in feces (duck, geese, mink, dog, human) which remain viable in lake water for over 50 days. Common infection in dogs and cats.
All anyone has to do is wipe their mouth or swallow some water and you can intake the cysts. Phosphorus and Nitrogen are in urine and feces. When one person takes that innocent pee in the middle of the lake it matters. When 500 people take that innocent pee in Braun Bay it matters. When people squat in the channel to pee all day (I've seen it) it matters. Cyanobacteria which is toxic and associated with ALS (see Mascoma Lake DHMC) is in Kanasatka this summer. Once introduced it thrives on Nitrogen and Phosphorus. Kanasatka is 9' above Winnipesaukee so where do you think it is headed? If you have good flow, low population and low animal populations you are obviously better off. Point is the lake is taking a pounding and without the opportunity to flush over the winter it wouldn't be much better than Lilly Pond. Learned my lesson the hard way the lake is far from pristine even in a Covid year. More interesting reading google Long Lake in Maine I don' think we're there yet.

Bummer. Thanks for sharing. Please let us know exactly where you were

And They Call It a "Swim Platform"...
 

Saturday, directly in front of my place, a visiting boater relieved herself hanging onto the transom of their boat. (With apparent understanding of others aboard).

Then on Sunday, two male visitors (in mixed company) relieved themselves simultaneously off the swim platform.

Same spot...:rolleye1:

And we see ads for boats, "Includes never-used porta-potty". :rolleye1:
:rolleye1:

Relief
 

Now that's a bummer. I was between Meredith and Melvin Village what happened occurred in the lake it was not the fault of a municipality.

Sorry to hear of your illnesses...I know Braun Bay has been the topic of discussion about all the urine that must be expelled by waders and partiers but I wonder what “channel” you’re speaking of where they “squat all day?”:D
That just strikes me funny...sorry!

Anyone that thinks all that pee in Braun Bay is not a problem, think of your septic system before you jump in. :eek:

If this isn’t one of the best trolling posts I ever seen, then I haven’t seen enough in my many years on this forum.:rolleye1:

Channel
 

I think of Weirs Channel as the channel. Also I should have said Google Long Lake Maine poop.

You can measure it.

BTW this video also talks about that characteristic smell of a chlorinated pool. Well that smell isn’t the chlorine, It’s the reaction between chlorine and pee is what you’re smelling.

Also a lot of lake homes still use the lake as their water source.

https://youtu.be/S32y9aYEzzo

...... 1931: ain't no pee here, no more!
 

Here's a relevant and interesting New Hampshire historical factoid about removing the pee from Lake Winnipissaukee.

In the year 1931, the NH state legislature passed a law that called for Lake Winnipissaukee, as it was commonly called, to be officially recognized and named by all as Lake Winnipesaukee, in an effort to remove the derogatory pee from the name, Winnipissaukee.

Hence forth and forever after, going forward from the year 1931, Lake Winnipissaukee has been known as Lake Winnipesaukee ........ here, here, here ..... and a big thank-you to all the long gone state reps and senators who passed that there NH law ....... a-way back then in 1931 ...... a-yuh! ..... :laugh:

Names
 

Prior to that it was Lake Winnipisseogee maybe it's time to petition to change it back.

Yeah -- with all the construction around the lake, the introduction of Canada geese, and increase in population, the water quality has def taken a hit. Cyanobacteria (also called "blue-green algae") is the scary stuff. When we were staying on Lee's Pond during September about six years ago, there was a "bloom" and people were told to avoid swimming and to keep their dogs out. There is also a link to ALS. The rash of closures due to fecal coliform is really distressing.

Our old place had lake-supplied water for over 70 years, and it was only in the last few years that we opted for bottled water for drinking. I literally grew up drinking lake water for over a month each year.

Still kickin'!!!

Diluted, Urine Promotes Algae Growth...
 

Turning to science for the definitive answer:

Urine is good for growing algae, including algae blooms that can kill...

https://resource.wur.nl/en/show/Alga...e-on-urine.htm

Great -- so pee could be a contributing factor to the annual "Lake Snot" blooms. I wonder if they are more prevalent in Braun area.

I'm not going diving there to investigate!

This discussion is so distressing....it’s so much easier to breeze over what’s happening to our beautiful, sparkling lakes.... if only everyone would take care to preserve what we have....in this case, had. I’m no tree hugger, but I try to do my part not to pollute. I am sorry for the distress OP has had with the infections.
LMOLGA! *
* Let’s Make Our Lakes Great Again!

....also, a big contributing factor is the use of fertilizer to keep the lawns green around the McMansions right on the lake...just that much more phosphorous getting into the lake and promoting the algae growth. Seriously, it is incredibly irresponsible to have a lawn near the lake.

Lies, lies, and more lies...
 

You are so correct, and all you get from the landscapers is that what they’re using does not pollute the lake, which is pure, unadulterated baloney!

Not to mention all the fish poop being dumped into the Merrymeeting River, which then dumps into Alton Bay.
http://www.newhampshirelakesandmount...s-forward.html

There are cyanobacteria blooms in the river every year.

20 years ago or so I contracted Giardia (an intestinal parasite). I was 160 lbs at the time and lost 20 lbs in a month. I'm pretty certain, and doctors agreed, it was from the lake because at the time I was learning to barefoot water ski and ingested/took in lake water through every orifice on a regular basis. There's all kind-o-stuff mixed into that lake water

Increased poopulation.:emb:

Sort of. If population goes up and we have the same behavior, that's a big problem. But we should not let ourselves off the hook so easily. We can avoid lawns and fertilizer (as posted above), we can maintain our septics and get rid of failing ones, we can make sure our roads and culverts do not dump water directly into the lake, etc. If we do these things, then we can grow without destroying the things we love

Not sure how much truth there is to this but it's my understanding that the lake is considerably cleaner now than it was...say...post WW2 due to advancements in septic designs, regulations, construction guidelines and shoreline management.

Curious if there are lake cleanliness comparison's from different time periods

Absolutely 100% true by a long shot!!

The “glory days” are not always glorious!

Dan

Sewage
 

From 1963 to 1965 we vacationed at the Piscopo's Mountainview Cottages on Winnisquam. We thought it was a blast to make snowballs from the green seaweed like algae that accumulated on the beach. This resulted from the many camps that dumped into the lakes above. The second major factor was the number of overnight cruisers that could stay either anchored by an island or at town docks like Weirs. There was one cruiser named La Grenouille that basically never moved from the Weirs docks on the weekends. Cruisers discharged directly into the lake with much of it in the area of the Weirs docks. Imagine it flowing right past the beach? The lakeside pumping septic lines up Paugus Bay and the then new no discharge laws were immensely helpful. We keep loading up the lake from other sources and the conditions will return. BTW TMI but yes it is giardia and no I'm not wandering much at the moment. Part of why the forum if so intriguing. I apologize for setting new lows for such a fecy post.

Hopefully it will all be BEHIND you soon.

Meredith asbestos...
 

Where Mills Falls is, there was an asbestos factory that dumped their waste into Meredith Bay. My understanding it remains, undisturbed and encapsulated on the bottom.

No factory can do that today.

I tried to google it and didn't find anything. Gotta be history out there I'm not finding.

Getting off-track from water quality, but this NHDES link suggests the only asbestos waste in Meredith is in the town landfill that is closed and capped.

https://www.des.nh.gov/organization/...gories/faq.htm

This might help stop ear infections
 

As a diver I've learned a few things about ears. One is that if you dive often enough you'll probably get an ear infection.

Beside hurting like hell sometimes, you risk collateral damage health-wise if it takes off such as permanent loss of hearing and other bad things.

While I can't protect myself from bad water other than avoiding it, a 50/50 blend of white vinegar and rubbing alcohol is a dirt cheap and very effective way to head off ear infections. No guarantees of course but it sure works for me.

The vinegar, being acidic, kills bacteria and the alcohol displaces water in the ear canal. I use white vinegar to clean bottles I find diving because it's mildly acidic.

Make yourself a very small batch of 50/50 blend of rubbing alcohol and white vinegar.

All you need is a small 2 or 3 oz. bottle with a tip on it so you can tilt your head and put 2-4 drops in and getting it into the ear canal. You'll know it's in the canal because it will make an odd sound as it plugs it up and actually feels plugged up which is what you want-all the way to the tympanic membrane-the ear drum. The plugged up feeling won't last long.

You can also buy this solution at alot of dive shops and very likely at CVS etc.. Sometimes it's called "auro-dri" or similar name. Basically they market it for "swimmer's ear".

Water stuck in the ear canal is a petrie dish waiting to take off. Bad water only magnifies the odds of getting an infection.

The lakes are being loved to death ! Too many people , too much money, plain and simple !

Do you have specific examples or is this just a blind broad brush baseless statement?

Actually, I do have specifics. I try to avoid making “blind broad brush baseless statements”.

Lake? Well? Could've Been Either Source...
 

Giardia is also found in New Hampshire's well water:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4848110/

(At the "X")…
.
.
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I’m also a diver and use a slightly different mix to address ear infections: 1/3 white vinegar, 1/3 alcohol and 1/3 baby oil. The alcohol will dry the skin so the baby oil helps with that.

source
 

I'm the only one off the water source who is sick and the timing of onset perfectly matches the incubation time. Good suggestion but can't imagine no one else being sick plus the cysts originate in feces which would be harder to introduce than a large contingent of waterfoul. Think about grandkids etc. this is really not a pleasant experience make sure they don't ingest while playing or spray it with their mouths while playing in the water with friends it's not worth it.

And,,,
 

Sorry I think I missed something here, the point.

So are we all just going boating and no more swimming, but still need to wear masks and goggles and nose & ear plugs to protect against over the bow spray to make sure it doesnt get into our bodies?

Or are some of you saying you are leaving the lake and never going to urinate or worse in it again and everyone else should also, so that it will be clean for no one to use.

Happy to be a reasonable part of a reasonable solution, but I seem to have missed it.

Help me see where we are going.

Were we better off when leaded gas and 2 - cycle oil regularly got spilled into the lake and probably killed of a lot of bacteria? Never saw that coming,,,

Nope, sure I am still missing something.

Oh ya, like what is the fix.

Seriously, what is the fix? :(:(:(:(

There are many smart, thoughtful yard people and excellent hardware stores who do not understand that they should not be using any phosphorous-based fertilizers near the lake. Our watershed is like a giant bowl, and everything flows into the water.

Nest time you're speaking with your yard person or you're at the store buying fertilizer yourself, make sure the middle number (of the 3 numbers on the bag) is 0. If it is not zero, your gardener is sending phosphorous into the lake.

What now
 

I think we're all sick of living in a toxic world, wearing face masks and being afraid of getting sick. I never considered the lake water could make me ill. I waited over a week for the stomach bug to go away before I heard the word Giadia for the first time. I know what I will do. If I'm going underwater I'll wear watertight ear plugs it's such an easy choice because I know I can get an ear in fection. Most people don't. I used to skin dive all the time....go down ten or so feet to get things off the bottom. I know now that if I get water up my nose inadvertently or in my mouth there are microorganisms that could make me sick. So I'll do my best not to do that. When I go swimming it won't be at a congested public beach with a lot of waterfoul around. September will probably be a good month to use the beaches. Most people spend their time at less populated areas of the lake and probably don't need to do anything. Ultimately you do what you want. Wear a mask or don't. Party with people or don't. Pee in the water or don't. Make choices live with the consequences. The bottom line is the water quality is as I stated not "pristine" like the "Switzerland of America". I didn't know that because I've been around too long operating on old beliefs. I wanted to share the information so that others can at least make informed decisions I have no interest in telling people what to do with their time on the lake I hope they enjoy it. That's why this forum even exists. Good question for sure.

My wife...
 

...was kayaking yesterday. Pulled a plastic bag out of the lake only to find it was full of someone's poop. Credit to her for not dropping it back in the lake. Would love to know who did that and where they lived. I'd mail it back to them.

Paugus pee bay
 

Ever see the number of boats at the sand bar near the Margate on Paugus Bay on a weekend? It's as bad as Winnisquam sand bar. Guaranteed most of them are peeing in lake. And then they trespass through the cemetery to Shaws and load up more beer, wine and soda to consume and further relieve themselves. All of this just upstream from the Laconia City intake for water...

Poop in a bag
 

Winilyme that is truly disgusting. Please google poop long lake Maine it's completely relevant and what we are headed for if people continue to treat the lake like a farm manure pond. P.S. by saying pee in the lake if you want to I don't advocate for it at all. I meant that no one can police what someone is doing in the water with one hand on the swim platform and no one wants to. I would advocate that what someone feels they absolutely are justified and need to do in the moment may not be best for everyone that uses the lake in the long term. Prior to Covid at any point in time you were never more than 5 minutes from at least a porta potty. It's harder now but you still have Weirs, Glendale, Shep Brown's, Center Harbor, Meredith and others on the northern side of the lake.