Cyanobacteria Warning West Side Bear Is.
 

Major cyanobacteria bloom on the lake... Beautiful day and you can't go in the water. We all need to take responsibility and stop fertilizing our lawns, fix our septic systems, and use phosphate-free laundry and dishwashing soaps. Otherwise, the lake is going to deteriorate.

From NHDES website:

State Issues Cyanobacteria Lake Warning for West Shoreline of Bear Island, Meredith

Concord, NH – An elevated cyanobacteria cell concentration has been measured along the west shoreline of Bear Island on Lake Winnipesaukee in Meredith. Samples revealed that the state standard of 50% or greater of the total cells from the bloom were identified as cyanobacteria. As a result, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) has issued a cyanobacteria lake warning for those who recreate around Bear Island. The current bloom is variable with some shoreline areas free of elevated cell conditions while some other areas have blue-green clouds in the water. Recent sightings report blue-green clouds within coves on the west side of Bear Island. Please continue to monitor your individual shoreline for changing conditions.

This warning is not based on a toxin evaluation and is intended as a precautionary measure for short term exposure. DES advises lake users to avoid contact with the water in areas experiencing elevated cyanobacteria cell conditions typically where lake water has a blue-green surface scum, clouds or flecks. DES also advises pet owners to keep their pets out of any waters that have these conditions.

DES routinely monitors public beaches and public waters of the state for cyanobacteria. Once a cyanobacteria lake warning has been issued, DES returns to affected waterbodies on a weekly basis until the cyanobacteria standards are again met. Cyanobacteria are natural components of water bodies worldwide, but blooms and surface scums may form when excess phosphorus is available to the water. Some cyanobacteria produce toxins that are stored within the cells but released upon cell death. Toxins can cause both acute and chronic health effects that range in severity. Acute health effects include irritation of skin and mucous membranes, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Chronic effects include liver and central nervous system damage.

The June 28, 2011 warning will remain in effect until additional samples reveal cyanobacteria levels have diminished.

Yellow spots?
 

So - we are on Mark, across from the West side of Bear. When we were up this weekend, I saw lots of yellow spots in the water - thought it was some amazing amount of pine pollen - would that be the bloom? OOPS.

I'm pretty sure the yellow spots you were seeing is pollen, we noticed some yesterday too.
We were in the water a few times on Monday and didn't notice any of the blooms, or at least nothing out of the ordinary water was still clear. Does anyone know where the areas they are reporting? The west shoreline covers a big distance.

I would suspect cyano. Cyano is suspended in the water and eventually scums over if conditions are right.

Hmmm
 

Last year I remember my brother saying that once he snorkeled out some 30 feet from shore, everything under the water was covered with what looked like green algae. Is this the same or is the stuff? Is the cyanobacteria always floating on the top of the water or can it reside on the bottom?

Here is a link to the DES information page on Cyanobacteria. It includes pictures of what it looks like on the surface of a lake.


http://des.nh.gov/organization/divis...o_bacteria.htm

Here's another link with prevention steps. Spread the word..

http://des.nh.gov/organization/divis...shp_cyano5.pdf

West Bear Cyanobacteria Bloom
 

Huge bloom yesterday at our dock back of Shepard's Island

That green scum looks a lot like pollen which is all over the lake.

And all a long we thought the "big" boats were the problem! :rolleye2:

As I mentioned in the other thread, the state legislature is currently giving serious thought to changing the way that the NH-DES does its job. A bill that would revise the Shoreline Protection Act and stop the testing of lakes for bacteria is pending. The DES would no longer be posting their orange warning signs for bacteria IF the pending bill gets passed.

It initially looks like pollen, except that it is not floating on top of the water but it is suspended in the water below the surface. We initially thought it was pollen but noticed this and the fact that there was not pollen anywhere else: not on the boat cover, not on the deck furniture, etc.

Our clear beautiful water in our cove on west Bear Island turned to pea soup literally overnight, and has been gradually improving since then.


These are some photos that were sent to NH DES on Monday.Attachment 5051

Attachment 5052

Attachment 5053

www.suntropic.com
 

If you got to www.suntropic.com they have a product called earthtec for ponds. I don't know if this would work in such a large area but it might be worth checking into.

You can't get rid of it. You have to prevent it in the first place. Go look at the NHDES links above. Anything you use to"kill" the bacteria will release toxins which is worse. Don't add anything to the lake without NHDES approval. You are likely to make matters even worse! The Town of Meredith is going to alert shorefront properties of the dangers. We all need to get better informed about this. Go to the NHDES website and read up..

The lake isn't some swimming pool which you can chlorinate if you don't like the look of the water. It is a living, natural thing that has to be treated responsibly.

What we need to do is build a couple dozen more mansions on the shore . That should finish the job.

Can they have ENORMOUS green lawns with them? That'd be nice...

These towns on the lake need to push a HUGE educational campaign for those that live on the lake about what you can do and what you cannot do.
Otherwise, the lake will suffer -- and so will all of us who love it so much.

I agree, education is the key, I was enlightened by what I read on the DES website. We will do our part to help the lake. The problem is the people with the mansions don't seem to care, it is all about "show" to them, big mansion, green lawn, look at me mentality.
I would like to know why is this problem associated with Bear Island right now? My wife talked with BOH today it seems to be isolated on the northern section of Bear only.
Lets all do what we can to save this precious resource.

I didn't know there were so many mansions on the west side of Bear Island.

Although it's always tempting to blame the other guy for your troubles, you may want to look a little closer to home. Not all nutrients leaching into the lake come from the evil rich. Class warfare is never the answer.

A wealthy person with a large mansion is going to hire a professional landscaping service to maintain his lawn, they will have a licensed chemical guy. They will be very inclined to follow the shoreland rules.

Contrast that with the average homeowner who goes to Home Depot, buys the stuff on sale and applies it himself. Does he know the rules, does he follow them?

Now look in your backyard, is your septic system up to date? The mansion guy put in a new state certified system when he built the house five or ten years ago. What did Grandpa put in 40-50 years ago on his summer camp? Sure it's a 1/4 acre shorefront lot and the leach field is size of a postage stamp and only 50 feet from the water, but don't worry it's grandfathered in.

It's not always them, sometimes it's us.

Walt Kelly
 

As Walt Kelly said in "Pogo," We has met the enemy, and they is us."

Every single family that owns waterfront property on this gorgeous lake needs education -- and they need it N-O-W ! Five years from now may be too late.

In response to Bear Island South: It is not just the west side of Bear Island.
The yellow pollen-looking substance that is suspended in the water is indeed the cyanobacteria. But it is more concentrated in some areas of the lake.

the stuff I was talking about isn't chlorine, it is designed for ponds and lakes. Like I said it might not work in this large an area but it might be worth checking out.

JRC makes a very good point. As much as we all complain about the "McMansions", they are carefully scrutinized from start to finish and held to very high environmental standards. Many of the older cottages were not designed for dishwashers, clothes washers and multiple showers. As a result, many of these systems are failing.

Test the whole lake?
 

There is a commercial service to measure the lake for cyanobacteria and the phosphorus levels that can cause it. This would show if the Bear Island occurrence is isolated or if there is a wide spread problem. Bluewater Satellite http://bluewatersatellite.com/Cyanobacteria.html uses data from the Landsat sensors for the analysis, and provides five readings per acre.

Moultonborough used the service last year to measure phosphorus in its waters and discovered new areas of elevated phosphorus. Based on that data, it added new monitoring points to the Lay Lakes water sampling program, done in cooperation with UNH.

There was a clear sky satellite pass on June 21’st that could be used for an analysis. Bluewater will analyze the phosphorus and cyanobacteria for the whole lake (about 46,000 acres) for $7900. This would allow DES to focus testing resources on areas of the lake where there is already cyanobacteria, and start looking at high phosphorus areas for potential causes. The problem, of course, is that DES does not have the budget for this, only for spot testing or where people report a problem. If any of the Winnipesaukee area organizations wants to peruse this, please send me a private message to discuss how to proceed.

I am down in the Wolfeboro/Alton side of the Lake. I haven't seen any blooms, but I have to say I have seen an inordinate amount of dead wildlife floating around. Dead birds, ducks and fish. I saw a dead loon floating this morning on the east side of Barndoor Island. I can't remember the last time I saw a dead bird/fish floating around in the waters. I noticed the birds at the Wolfeboro docks yesterday and several dead fish in the Dellings Cove area two days ago. Does the bacteria have an adverse affect on the wildlife as well? I would assume so. Anyone else seen anything like this? This is scary. I got little kids swimming in the water all day. :confused:

We're in West Alton, behind the William Tell Restaurant. Netted two dead fish the same day this past week. And sometimes the water is GREEN and other times it looks okay. Frightening, though. People down here are talking about the "pollen" in the water, and when I tell them what it really is, they are shocked.

Not the first bad readings in the Carry area of Bear
 

Two summers ago the DES sampled water all over the lake along the shoreline measuring e-coli levels. This same area came up with a high level of e-coli. Many of the old camps have just holding tanks or a small leach system dug into the solid clay that makes up Bear Island. To the good I know of about 9 new spetics and several more upgrades over the past 3 years from the northern tip of Bear to the carry. In fact one is being built right now in the area of the bloom. Leaves that float on the water in the fall tend to get trapped in coves and protected areas where they sink and add high amounts of nutrients. I believe there was also a Cyno bloom behind Lago last summer.

We have these massive blooms up in the northern part of Champlain. Primarily, caused by Farmers. It's been polluting the lake and injuring people and animals for many years, decades. Once that was known, not much was done. More than 50% of the phosphorous pollution, much more this year, is caused by farming runoff. Weeds, bacteria, ecoli. Most of our bay pollution here where I am is caused by waterfoul.

Cyanobacteria Warning Lifted as of 3:30 pm today 7/1
 

We got a call from the Concord office a few minutes ago and learned that today's test results for cyanobacteria were within healthy parameters. The office said it would prepare a statement soon.

We'll see you in the water!

Big Lawns Aren't Natural, and draw Canada Geese...
 

"Inclined" apparently isn't good enough. :( Why lawns in the first place? :confused:

At Millstone Point, a McMansion which has just been converted to a Mansion had many truckloads loads of new loam dropped just 20 feet from the lake. The pile would have covered school buses! :eek2: Now fertilize that loam, and see what happens. :look:

The most pristine lakes have a preponderance of White Pine trees surrounding them. Near where this Mansion was put in, scores of White Pines were removed just recently.

Upgraded Septic Systems in our Cove
 

Most of us on Bear from Rock Island south to Dolly have upgraded our septic systems to comply with today's standards within the past few years.

In view of the massive property taxes these mansions generate for the towns and state . Perhaps they could get together and say once a week have several giant truck loads of chlorine dumped in the lake at each end and turn it into a gaint swimming pool for shore side dwellers. That would take care of the pollution and everything else besides.

But they just replaced the loam at the new McMansion/Mansion, it is not like it is new lawn. BTW, I love that house, I think it is very pretty.
Why lawns? Because they are pretty and in my opinion, there is nothing like looking at a long sweep of lawn from the shore. Besides, they were put in before we all knew how "bad" they are for the lake. Now you can't make a big lawn unless it is already there.

Smil'n Green Teeth!
 

So's, it's no wonder now why my teeth are all turning bright green. It must have something to do with that West Bear Island - Cyano-Bacteria that's all over this thread. Turn on my bathroom faucet and what comes out is pure, unfiltered, 100% proof Lake Winnipesaukee with all its advantages and defects totally intact. Brushing my teeth with this Cyano-Lake Winnipesaukee water has done turned all my teeth to a bright green just like them brite green flecks drifting through the waters!:D:D:D

Most likely it has something to do with my antique, funky-dunky septic-cess pool system....whatever is down there....that came with the little old cottage...... O.....so many years ago. Could well be that the domestic water supply, stop valve intake and the embankment effluent outflow all roll in one continuous circular fluids-in-motion type of a cycle, or something?

You know what they say....."What goes around, comes around!"

And, here's another one learned way back at summer camp...."Be sure to flush twice; it's a long way to the kitchen!" .... and that applies to the bathroom as well.

Too Long—Too Complacent...
 

Since last week, that loam got spread out and that huge sweep has been re-sodded with grass. :(

The new second story—while nicely done, was absolutely necessary, as their new boathouse blocked their view! :emb:

The construction took three years, and many square yards of copper flashing was used; however, I question copper's use adjacent to the lake, as copper is poisonous to crayfish, and has been discovered to be questionable around fish.

The longer I view DES regulations around the lake, the more I appreciate their long-term goal to return Lake Winnipesaukee waters to the way they were—before Winnipesaukee "got discovered".

BTW:

Millstone Point looks nice from Ayers Point, but the view back—from their neighbor's dock—points to a problem with Tuftonboro's zoning regulations. :eek2:

IMHO . :cool:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/GEDC0202.jpg

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/GEDC0198.jpg

http://www.laconiadailysun.com/story...-cyanobacteria

It's pretty good the Town of Meredith is taking an interest and not just defaulting any responsibility to the state considering the Bear Island location is remote to most of the town and occupied on a seasonal basis by people from away.

928-acre Lake Waukewan in Meredith, about 3/4 mile upstream from 44,586-acre Lake Winnipesaukee's meredith bay is reported to have experienced a cyanobacteria bloom in recent years as well, and Lake Waukewan is the source of water for the town's drinking water distribution system. Meredith has two large nursing home facilities as well as the central area of town that all get their water from Lake Waukewan after it gets treated and distributed by the Meredith Water Dept. so water quality can be pretty important.

Me personally? I'm close to Bear Island, Lake W. bacteria central, and get my water straight out of the lake, totally unfiltered and 100% proof, pure all-winnipesaukee, which is probably why my teeth are a brite green w/silt growing:D:D:D!

"Meeting Federal Standards for Water"...
 

Wolfeboro gets its municipal drinking water from Upper Beech Pond, which has near-perfect water. A bit down-slope is Lower Beech Pond, whose residents say they drink the water directly.
:look:

As required for Federally-approved drinking water, Wolfeboro treats the Upper Beech Pond water, then send out long and technical letters to consumers periodically. Those letters say—in effect—"If you want to keep living cancer-free, don't drink Wolfeboro's municipal water". :eek2:

Stumbling into The Truth...?
 

bacteria at Black Point
 

Hello ... This Labor Day of 2018 I got three infections swimming at Camp Kabeyun on Black Point. The water temp at the top was around 71 degrees; I did not think that I would be at risk but I soon realized a small mosquito bite got infected. I covered it with betadine for a few days. Two days later I returned home and had diarrhea. I thought it might have been from the water melon I ate; however, when I returned to the camp the kitchen staff said no one else had diarrhea. Two days later a toe got infected. The next day I went to the doc in the box at the Alton circle. I got a script for erythromycin and a warning not to go in the water because the bacteria was high ... so now they tell me. I called NH DES and discovered that the state does not have enough resources to monitor the lakes. I am sure that commercial interests don't want to scare people from using the lakes. Come on ... people ... let's clean up this place! It is far too beautiful to waste!

Perhaps the water from Alton made it down your way? This is what's pouring in from the state fish hatchery.