A view of Congamond Lake this past August. (WNG File Photo)
SOUTHWICK – Town officials have been making an effort to secure funding to treat Congamond Lake.
On January 10, Lake Management Committee Chairman Dick Grannells, Select Board Chairman Joe Deedy, and Conservation Commission Chairman Chris Pratt sent a letter to Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton. The letter was a request for town officials to meet with Beaton to convince him to commit $850,000 of funding for alum treatment of Congamond Lake. As of Wednesday, the Town of Southwick had not received a response from Beaton, but Grannells said that he reached out to other state officials on Wednesday trying to get the attention of Beaton.
“Anybody that we can talk to that can get us an audience with him, if that’s what it’s going to take,” said Grannells.
Due to the importance of treating the lake, Grannells had Dr. Ken Wagner, a consultant limnologist hired by the town, do a two-year water quality study. Along with the data points and water samples done by town officials, the study indicated that alum treatment in the near future was necessary in order to maintain Congamond Lake. Grannells noted that an alum treatment takes about two to three weeks to conduct.
The threat to the lake comes from the desperate need to restore the water quality in certain sections of the lake and curtail the increase of toxic Cyanobacteria algae blooms. In the letter sent to Beaton, it indicates that there have been several blooms of toxic Cyanobacteria over the last six years, including blooms in 2016 and 2017 that were occupied by proactive copper sulfate treatment.
Allowing the algae and other bacteria to remain in the lake is a long-term concern.
“If that algae blooms, which it has in the past, the lakes could be closed,” said Select Board Chairman Joe Deedy.
Sen. Don Humason, who represents Southwick, echoed Deedy’s statement.
“Congamond (Lake) is important and every year a pond like that would have trouble with invasive species, and if not treated properly, it could choke out the pond,” said Humason.
Further into the letter to Beaton, it was stressed that it’s critical to have the funding secured and ready for April and having a vendor ready by then to begin the alum treatment. In the letter it states, “Spring 2019 alum treatment is far better than a Fall 2019 treatment, both for effectiveness and overall benefits. Waiting until Fall 2019 is less effective and would likely result in more toxic algae blooms during the 2019 season as the water quality data continues to show significant further degradation each year.”
It’s not just the species in Congamond Lake that could lead to a negative impact, if the lake closes, town officials are concerned it would directly impact the residents who have lakefront properties along with the several marinas, restaurants, and gas stations that benefit from the lake during the spring and summer. Deedy noted that the residents with lake frontage pay a little more for taxes and they might be upset if the lake happened to close in the future.
“The trickledown economics aren’t good,” said Deedy. “It’s going to come back and haunt us.”
Last year, Humason and Rep. Nick Boldyga were able to put language in an Environmental Bond Bill that was put into law during the last legislative session in 2018. The language of the bill provides nothing less than $1 million to be expended for flooding control, dredging, and eradication of any non-native plant species for the canal brook on Congamond Lake. Humason is hoping that the state could include the $850,000 of funding for the alum treatment in the language of the $1 million bond bill.
Humason is hopeful that Beaton and Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs will give him and the Town of Southwick good news.
“Hopefully, if the commonwealth has the opportunity, they can help us,” said Humason. “I know he (Beaton) appreciates how beautiful the resource (Congamond Lake) is and how lucky we are to have it.”
Beaton is no stranger to Congamond Lake as he visited the body of water in September of 2016 and went on a bout tour with Southwick town officials in order to find out more about the lake and what it has to offer.
