LRCWA: Obit and Movie

[feb]

There was a recent obituary for a Mr. James B. Walker (RIP) from Tilton. It described him as being instrumental with the Lakes Region Clean Waters Association. It also mentions a movie titled Clearing the Water: The Story of the Lakes Region Clean Waters Association. This caught my eye due to my fondness of the lakes region and my son being an environmental major. I thought it was something we could watch together. I googled it and found nothing. I was able to find the production company but no mention of the movie.

Is anyone familiar with this film and might know how I can watch it?

Thanks.

[webmaster]

Is this it?:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3YSTn-FqPc

[ishoot308]

Great video to watch to those who believe the water was cleaner "back then"...

[feb]

Thanks for finding that! Look forward to watching it tonight.

[KPW]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

Great video to watch to those who believe the water was cleaner "back then"...

We are now talking about Winnisquam. As Ursa Minor and I both remember the Cow Island area of Lake Winnipesaukee was and still is clean, although algae and invasive species are encroaching!! I was never at the southern end of the lake as a child, so I cannot comment on that. The far northern area has large logs at the bottom which make the water murky and brown. (Lee's Mill)

[4 for Boating]

Great grass roots story.
Funny how government has change so little over time.

[ApS]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

Great video to watch to those who believe the water was cleaner "back then"...

Our lake water "back then" was sawn from winter ice, stored, and used as ice in the summer.
'Seems we Camp Wyanoke campers should have developed the first insight—if unhealthy.

Aside from scattered lake views and headline references to "The Winnipesaukee Basin", the video only mentions the drinking water source of Laconia,
Lake Winnisquam.

Sixty miles of sewer line (which crosses Lake Winnipesaukee) run to Franklin, where it's "treated" and released into the Merrimack River.
That "release" looks awful nasty!

Ironic that the pressure of a growing population around Lake Winnisquam produced the success of local activism.

When support grew from about 600 Lake Winnisquam residents, sewer line studies were funded by (then) EPA's William Ruckelshaus. (Who is effusive in crediting local supporters for success getting Federal funding).

Scanned were "scary headlines" of hundreds of new housing units proposed for Laconia. (Some names look very familiar).

Speaking of irony, anyone see the problem with this scanned headline, which reads, "Algae Threatens City Growth".

"We Have Met the Enemy—and it is US"...

.

[swnoel]

I remember fishing Winnisquam through the ice back then and was very successful. While I don't doubt the validity of some of the story I believe there was some stretch to the facts in order to create panic and get what they wanted. The danger to all bodies of water is shoreline development and waste infiltration by community and individual means. Course most communities will welcome shoreline development to procure those huge property taxes they can get... can never have too much tax money. It's all for the children...

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by KPW

We are now talking about Winnisquam. As Ursa Minor and I both remember the Cow Island area of Lake Winnipesaukee was and still is clean, although algae and invasive species are encroaching!! I was never at the southern end of the lake as a child, so I cannot comment on that. The far northern area has large logs at the bottom which make the water murky and brown. (Lee's Mill)

Of course I know this is about Winnisquam which was taking the brunt of the raw sewage discharge but it wasn't only Winnisquam that was affected and fixed!

From the DES publication "Winnipesaukee River Basin Program Brochure 2007"...

"Water quality problems in the Lakes Region in the early 1970s
were most acute precisely where existing sewage collection system
discharges were located. Treatment facilities serving these sewer
systems either did not exist—as in the case of Tilton, Northfield
and Franklin’s raw discharges to the Winnipesaukee River—or if
they did, were woefully in need of upgrading and expansion. The
latter was the case with Laconia’s and the State School’s primary
treatment plants, which discharged to Lake Winnisquam, and the
Meredith and Center Harbor treatment plants, which discharged—
after something less than secondary treatment, and with no signifi-
cant removal of nutrients—into Meredith Bay and Center Harbor
Bay, respectively. The areas of Lake Winnipesaukee receiving inad-
equately-treated sewage treatment plant effluent were precisely the
areas with algae problems in the summer requiring the applica-
tions of copper sulfate, although these problems were much less
severe than in Lake Winnisquam.
In addition to these problems, it appeared that the dense devel-
opment on the shoreline of Lake Winnipesaukee in Laconia,
Gilford and Meredith and on Lake Winnisquam in Sanbornton,
Belmont and Tilton, had outpaced the ability of on-site subsurface
systems to accommodate the waste. Similarly, Belmont, which
lacked a sewage collection system, was adversely affecting water
quality in the Tioga River, a tributary of the Winnipesaukee River."

From my own memory the effluent overflow from the camps and motels along what is now scenic drive from what used to be the Chanticleer to West Alton was very prevalent all summer. There was blue hue almost like an oil slick on the water daily especially during the months of July and August. Many camps had no septic and just a 55 gallon drum in the ground or pipe going into a hole! Heavy rains and overuse severely magnified this problem.

Yes in the last 10 years there has been a slight to moderate increase of phosphorous in the lake. My point is, it is no way near the problems the lake had in the 60's and early 70's when no testing was being done.

I know everyone likes to glamorize the past but the FACT is the lake is much cleaner today than it was "back then"...

Believe what you will...

Dan

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

Of course I know this is about Winnisquam which was taking the brunt of the raw sewage discharge but it wasn't only Winnisquam that was affected and fixed!

From the DES publication "Winnipesaukee River Basin Program Brochure 2007"...

"Water quality problems in the Lakes Region in the early 1970s
were most acute precisely where existing sewage collection system
discharges were located. Treatment facilities serving these sewer
systems either did not exist—as in the case of Tilton, Northfield
and Franklin’s raw discharges to the Winnipesaukee River—or if
they did, were woefully in need of upgrading and expansion. The
latter was the case with Laconia’s and the State School’s primary
treatment plants, which discharged to Lake Winnisquam, and the
Meredith and Center Harbor treatment plants, which discharged—
after something less than secondary treatment, and with no signifi-
cant removal of nutrients—into Meredith Bay and Center Harbor
Bay, respectively. The areas of Lake Winnipesaukee receiving inad-
equately-treated sewage treatment plant effluent were precisely the
areas with algae problems in the summer requiring the applica-
tions of copper sulfate, although these problems were much less
severe than in Lake Winnisquam.
In addition to these problems, it appeared that the dense devel-
opment on the shoreline of Lake Winnipesaukee in Laconia,
Gilford and Meredith and on Lake Winnisquam in Sanbornton,
Belmont and Tilton, had outpaced the ability of on-site subsurface
systems to accommodate the waste. Similarly, Belmont, which
lacked a sewage collection system, was adversely affecting water
quality in the Tioga River, a tributary of the Winnipesaukee River."

From my own memory the effluent overflow from the camps and motels along what is now scenic drive from what used to be the Chanticleer to West Alton was very prevalent all summer. There was blue hue almost like an oil slick on the water daily especially during the months of July and August. Many camps had no septic and just a 55 gallon drum in the ground or pipe going into a hole! Heavy rains and overuse severely magnified this problem.

Yes in the last 10 years there has been a slight to moderate increase of phosphorous in the lake. My point is, it is no way near the problems the lake had in the 60's and early 70's when no testing was being done.

I know everyone likes to glamorize the past but the FACT is the lake is much cleaner today than it was "back then"...

Believe what you will...

Dan

I don't dispute any of what you've posted, but a couple of important points.

First, the lake is not homogeneous. While some areas may be cleaner, there are others that are struggling. Just for example, The Moultonborough Bay Inlet (Greens Basin to Suissevale) are struggling with reduced water clarity, and increased milfoil and cyanobacteria risk--all caused by too much phosphorous.

Also, elevated phosphorous is a problem throughout the lake; it's the reason so many of us see more algae than we have in years/decades past. Even though phosphorous in many areas has leveled out, the algae, milfoil, and water clarity issues will continue to worsen for as long as the phosphorous is at CURRENT levels. We really need to get them down.

Here's a piece from The Lake Winnipesaukee Association on the Moultonborough Bay Inlet:

http://winnipesaukeegateway.org/lake...utive-summary/

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

I don't dispute any of what you've posted, but a couple of important points.

First, the lake is not homogeneous. While some areas may be cleaner, there are others that are struggling. Just for example, The Moultonborough Bay Inlet (Greens Basin to Suissevale) are struggling with reduced water clarity, and increased milfoil and cyanobacteria risk--all caused by too much phosphorous.

Also, elevated phosphorous is a problem throughout the lake; it's the reason so many of us see more algae than we have in years/decades past. Even though phosphorous in many areas has leveled out, the algae, milfoil, and water clarity issues will continue to worsen for as long as the phosphorous is at CURRENT levels. We really need to get them down.

Here's a piece from The Lake Winnipesaukee Association on the Moultonborough Bay Inlet:

http://winnipesaukeegateway.org/lake...utive-summary/

Agreed on all points.

Dan

[KPW]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

Of course I know this is about Winnisquam which was taking the brunt of the raw sewage discharge but it wasn't only Winnisquam that was affected and fixed!

From the DES publication "Winnipesaukee River Basin Program Brochure 2007"...

"Water quality problems in the Lakes Region in the early 1970s
were most acute precisely where existing sewage collection system
discharges were located. Treatment facilities serving these sewer
systems either did not exist—as in the case of Tilton, Northfield
and Franklin’s raw discharges to the Winnipesaukee River—or if
they did, were woefully in need of upgrading and expansion. The
latter was the case with Laconia’s and the State School’s primary
treatment plants, which discharged to Lake Winnisquam, and the
Meredith and Center Harbor treatment plants, which discharged—
after something less than secondary treatment, and with no signifi-
cant removal of nutrients—into Meredith Bay and Center Harbor
Bay, respectively. The areas of Lake Winnipesaukee receiving inad-
equately-treated sewage treatment plant effluent were precisely the
areas with algae problems in the summer requiring the applica-
tions of copper sulfate, although these problems were much less
severe than in Lake Winnisquam.
In addition to these problems, it appeared that the dense devel-
opment on the shoreline of Lake Winnipesaukee in Laconia,
Gilford and Meredith and on Lake Winnisquam in Sanbornton,
Belmont and Tilton, had outpaced the ability of on-site subsurface
systems to accommodate the waste. Similarly, Belmont, which
lacked a sewage collection system, was adversely affecting water
quality in the Tioga River, a tributary of the Winnipesaukee River."

From my own memory the effluent overflow from the camps and motels along what is now scenic drive from what used to be the Chanticleer to West Alton was very prevalent all summer. There was blue hue almost like an oil slick on the water daily especially during the months of July and August. Many camps had no septic and just a 55 gallon drum in the ground or pipe going into a hole! Heavy rains and overuse severely magnified this problem.

Yes in the last 10 years there has been a slight to moderate increase of phosphorous in the lake. My point is, it is no way near the problems the lake had in the 60's and early 70's when no testing was being done.

I know everyone likes to glamorize the past but the FACT is the lake is much cleaner today than it was "back then"...

Believe what you will...

Dan

Last comment on this - you are trying to tell me that I don't remember the water quality where I grew up. It is not the southern part of the lake. Did you spend time in the middle to northern section? We did not have the sewage issues in Tuftonboro. (I knew I should not have responded in the 1st place).

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by KPW

Last comment on this - you are trying to tell me that I don't remember the water quality where I grew up. It is not the southern part of the lake. Did you spend time in the middle to northern section? We did not have the sewage issues in Tuftonboro. (I knew I should not have responded in the 1st place).

Sorry, I was not trying to say you did not remember the quality of water where you grew up. After rereading my post I understand how you came to that conclusion. Most of my post should not have been directed at you as it was so again please accept my apologies.

I am little bit overly passionate about the lake and the quality of water and how far we have come from where it was. We still have lots of work to do in certain areas that need help with milfoil due to phosphorous etc, etc and hopefully those areas will be corrected in due time.

Dan

[barefootbay]

Roughly twenty miles of Alton Bay on the east and west sides of Winnipesaukee have no sewerage treatment other than septic systems of varied age and effectiveness.