Safeguard Your Lake Days: Take Action Now to Prevent Harmful Algal Blooms

Check out article being published in next week’s GSN by our partners in lake protection in Wolfeboro:

Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, are bacteria that have lived in our lakes for millions of years. They naturally occur in small numbers and are an important part of the ecosystem, creating oxygen and serving as a base in the aquatic food web.

However, problems arise when they multiply in response to sunlight, increasing water temperatures, and fertilizers in the water, resulting in a “bloom.” Blooms appear as blue-green surface scum, green-looking pollen, or puffballs that resemble snow throughout the water column. Five species of cyanobacteria found in our lakes can become toxic during blooms. When blooms are toxic, the bacteria release toxins when they die. There is no way to predict when a bloom may or may not become toxic, so it is best to treat all blooms as if they are toxic to protect yourself, children, pets, livestock, and wildlife. Consuming water containing toxins has been fatal to animals drinking water in the area of a bloom and can make humans very sick.

While we cannot control the warming of the water, we can control the fertilizer or nutrients that feed cyanobacteria and lead to blooms. Just like land plants and algae, cyanobacteria in water grow faster and multiply, “blooming” when they are given the right conditions: warm water, sunlight, and nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen.

Each of us can make a significant impact. We love our lakes and their famously clean water, and we want to protect water quality for enjoyment now and in the future. To reduce the loss of recreation days due to cyanobacteria blooms, we must keep nitrogen and phosphorus out of our lakes.

If you live anywhere in the Lakes Region, not just along the shoreline, you live in a watershed. Rain that falls on your property will eventually flow into storm drains, streams, and brooks and make its way into a lake, even if you live miles away.

Here are steps that each of us can take to make a big difference:

1. Avoid fertilizing, or if you must, make sure the middle number on the fertilizer bag is zero (indicating no phosphorus).
2. Regularly check and pump your septic system, as failed or leaky systems release E. coli, nitrogen, and phosphorus.
3. Prevent water from running off camp roads, driveways, yards, and roofs into the street or lakes. Any efforts you can make to soak up or infiltrate water through gardens or permeable landscaping or hardscaping will help.
4. If you own shorefront property, ensure there is a plant buffer (e.g., blueberry bushes or native flowers) along the water’s edge to prevent water carrying nitrogen and phosphorus from running into the lake.
5. Immediately pick up pet waste on public and private property.
6. Stabilize erosion areas on your property.
7. Reduce and then eliminate household chemicals, pesticides, and phosphorus products.

We all want to keep our lakes clean and open for recreation. You are part of the solution. Our lakes depend on you.

Join your local lake associations who work tirelessly, year-round, to protect surface waters in Wolfeboro: Wentworth Watershed Association, Rust Pond Association, Lake Winnipesaukee Association, and Mirror Lake Association.

For more information, visit the websites of the Town of Wolfeboro’s Committee – Wolfeboro Waters, Wentworth Watershed Association, Lake Winnipesaukee Association, and NH LAKES.