Michael Bergin and I sampled the lake water on the morning of Monday, Oct. 1 between 9:23 and 9:36 am

#1                        Dock                         1 cfu
#2                        Cedar Fork Creek    3 cfu
#3                        Booker  Creek          8 cfu

Caution level is individual reading above 400 cfu, or average above 200 cfu. CFU  = colony forming units per 100ml.

Lake water temperature was 81F/27C at all sites except the Booker Creek one: 82F/27.5C. The SECCI clarity reading was 29 inches.  The lake level has dropped during September and was about 2 inches below the lowest step on the spillway, with the only flow below the dam coming from the bottom of the dam and the weep holes near the bottom of the dam.  These are all excellent readings, slightly better than average for this time of year on all measures except water level.   The aesthetic quality of the water was clear and pleasant, mostly free of surface debris.  We saw several groups of fish feeding at the surface.  The aesthetic quality does not track the bacterial count, that was just nice to observe.

Mike, a regular fisherman at our lake, identified the surface feeding fish as shad.  This is the same species that caused concern last year when they died in large numbers after a period of cool weather, attracting raptors (birds of prey) not normally seen at Eastwood lake. Last year’s die-off also triggered a mid-winter water sampling, just to make sure there was no bacterial water contamination involved. Mike thinks the current shad population is small enough (size of the fish, not the number of them) that we probably will not have another die-off this year or next.  The shad could possibly again reach individual sizes that challenge our resources in two or more years from now.  Unusual weather conditions last year probably contributed to the original problem, and this could recur at any time. 

If you would like to know more about the fish, our testing program, or helpful information about fertilizing in the watershed, please reply to this posting and Mike or I will try to answer your questions, or identify who can answer them.

 

Chuck Henage
chenagemht@aol.com