I recall reading here that the "Silver Sands Marina" locale will coat a boat's bottom with a dark reddish-brown stain. (So it does depend
where on the lake you are).
Quote:
Originally Posted by cowisl
same as other summers to me...
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I'm in your general locale, and agree. The yellow pollen layer was as fierce as ever, and appeared
weeks earlier, compared with previous years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BroadHopper
The family drank the lake water from 1898 up til about the mid 80's when Samoset Condominium was put in. We notice the turbidity of the water turn worse. We decided to put in an artesian well.
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The 80's were "boom years" for The Big Lake, when the "McMansion" made its first appearance—here and elsewhere.
Though I think water quality can be restored by
comprehensive State management, a lot of environmental problems began in the 80's—including the removal of Lake Winnipesaukee from New Hampshire's list of lakes with the water quality "Class A".
1) It's been my
experience that Lake Winnipesaukee is never clearer than the last few days it is covered with ice. At that time, the dam operators keep the lake artificially full, so the first strong winds after Ice-Out will churn shoreline waters to a brown color.
The Lake's water—then at its most erosive level—probably gets its first
big charge of "nutrients". (Phosphorus and nitrogen, which feed algae, the snails that graze on algae, the snails'
cecariae that make "Duck Itch", and eventually impart that bad "algaefied" smell and taste to the water).
2) As for other man-made factors regarding water "cleanliness", check out any rocky shore today: a black
"bathtub ring"
appears all around the lake.
This year's "bathtub ring" is very narrow, which corresponds with my observation that the lake was kept unusually high most of the Spring and Summer. (Unloading passengers—from boat to dock—was a breeze until late August). The "bathtub ring" was left high and dry in September, leaving about 18 inches of especially "clean" rock showing below it.
This ring is made—most likely—as denser fossil-fuel-oils and asphalt's oily residues are washed into the lake from parking lots, roadways, and driveways from within the Lake Winnipesaukee Basin. Other oils, such as powerboat gearcase oils, probably make up the rest of the deposit.
This "bathtub ring" was photographed in 2006. It is a much wider ring when compared with the narrow ring around the lake this October. The lake is pretty much deserted this time of year, but maybe someone with a digital camera could provide an Autumn 2009 photo for comparison.
?