Second 2008 water samples were taken Friday, June 27 at about 9am.

Results are as follows:

#1 Dock 28 cfu
#2 Cedar Fork Creek 34 cfu
#3 Booker Creek 13 cfu

Caution level is individual reading above 400 cfu, or average above 200 cfu. TriTest (lab) will notify us if readings are above 100..

Lake water temp: 28.5-29 C, 83-84 F

SECCI Clarity: 28 inches

There was 2.25 inches in the Rain Gauge at 9am on Monday, June 30 At 5pm on June 30, water was running over the full width of our dam. Rain is good, it keeps the water moving in our system. However, the water testing protocol says we must not test immediately after a hard rain. Rain washes contamination off impervious surfaces in our watershed, into our tributaries.

We had our lowest fecal colifiorm reading within feet of a large gaggle of Geese. These readings are all very low, contaminated water has readings between several thousands and several ten-thousands.

Our test is required by the health department for “recreational use waters”, and it measures only one contaminator. This organism, E.coli is an “indicator” that is associated with other nasty stuff in human and animal waste. Some of the other substances and organisms are more hazardous to health, and also a lot harder to find and measure.

In the past, for about 8 years after Hurricane Fran, we had access to OWASA’s labs, and we tested more frequently and year round. They were improving a sewage pump on Kenmore and needed to test for spills that were pretty frequent. So we took the samples for them and in return got a lot of useful information about how long it takes for water to work its way through our watershed and through our lake.

When taking the tests, I noticed a fair amount of broken glass and loose unsecured canoes near the boatracks. I also saw glass bottles in the recycling bin. Loose canoes and glass containers are vandal bait, or at least it gives trespassers something bad to do. The rule is “no glass containers”. We had three cut foot incidents last week.

A former neigborhood resident stopped at the park today and talked to our gate guard about the plans that had been drawn before the 1983 restoration. There was to have been a glass-walled field house and tennis courts at a new park located that the intersection of N & S Lakeshore. This was next to the new building lots that were to be developed and sold to pay for the restoration. That all fell through because of floodplain building prohibition. Before that restoration there were larger Bass and Bluegill in the lake than we have seen since the introduction of the Grass Carp.

After that restoration, there was a beaver problem. The beavers created what is now a federally protected wetland at that end of our lake. This gives rise to an interesting “catch 22″ type problem:
The wetland is dependent on the lake, and the lake is man-made. If our dam is not properly maintained, the federal government will breach it. If they breach the dam, they will be guilty of endangering a “delineated” wetland. I’m pretty sure there is no way we can use that to our advantage, but it is curious….

Chuck Henage