These are the unofficial results from the water sampling conducted on 4/20/2006 around noon time by Anne & Chuck Henage: These results should be official early next week. I don’t plan to update this notice unless something changes

#1 Dock 1 cfu
#2 Cedar Fork Creek 3 cfu
#3 Booker Creek 12 cfu

Caution level is individual reading above 400 cfu, or average above 200 cfu.

Rain gauge was not out. The last rain we had spattered the dust on my car on Monday

Lake water temp:
23 C (Dock)
23 C (Cedar Fork Creek forebay)
22 C (Booker Creek inlet arm)

These readings are very low, no cause for concern. They conform to the pattern of previous readings last year where the Booker Creek inlet had the coolest water and the highest coliform count. I’m inclined to think that the geese and waterfowl are contributing to the higher coliform readings at that end of the lake, since that is where they seem to “hang out” when they are not fouling the far dock.

A reminder to lake front homeowners from a hydrologist that evaluated our lake about 10 years ago: Please use a “lake-margin” fertilizer formulation that has no phosphates. Fertilize sparingly. Water it in thoroughly, do not allow/rely on rain to flush fertilizer into the lake. The lake is a sensitive ecosystem, and we typically begin to get an algae bloom in the coming weeks. This can get nasty, and could kill the fish if the weather does not cooperate in terms of temperature and rain.

Phosphates are needed in small amounts for new plants or with new soil. Normal soil does not lose its phosphate unless it is being eroded, so it is not necessary to add it unless there are new plants that were not prviously there, or if the soil itself is being washed away. Concentrated phosphate in the lake water promotes and sustains the algae, instead of letting it “burn up its food source” quickly and then die back. Hydrologists use the phosphate level in the water as a measure of how much siltation is occurring.

Eastwood Lake was created by the CCC in the mid 1930s for about the same reasons Jordan Lake was created in the 1980s. It has been “restored”several times, and it had a somewhat colorful history before there was a neighborhood here. Until about 10 years ago, when we started a somewhat methodical approach to plannning the restoration that happened in 2003, I think the goal of previous restorations was to “get it right, for once and forever”. I think we now have a much more realistic goal of making the lake “sustainable” , with an eye to this being an ongoing process. Using the correct fertilizer and technique, cleaning the forebays, and watching for any construction or paving in our watershed to make sure this does not contribute silt are all parts of that sustained affort we are committed to to keep our lake healthy and attractive.