June 2015 Newsletter: Lake Management Activities Summary

BLIA volunteers completed the following tasks this past year with the goal of improving the water quality of Ballston Lake:

1. Collected biweekly samples for the DEC CSLAP program that monitors water quality of Ballston Lake.
2. Collected water samples in the lake and in the town to test for total coliform and fecal coliform bacteria.
3. Worked with the Ballston Clean Water Committee to supply lake and storm water data to support the Sewer System project for the Ballston Lake Watershed.
4. Conducted a two week study of the lake to determine the depth in the lake that dissolved oxygen drops to 0%. This info is needed to determine the amount of the lake bottom that is anoxic and how this impacts phosphorous release.
5. Conducted a water chestnut removal activity in late July. Over 240 gallons of water chestnuts were removed from the lake near the narrows.
6. We are working to rewrite the 2011 Ballston Lake Management and Protection Plan. The adoption of a comprehensive plan will enable BLIA to apply for grants to improve the water quality of Ballston Lake.
7. Secured funding from the Saratoga Water Quality Coordinating Committee to attend the Northeast Aquatic Plant
8. Management Society meeting in Saratoga January 20-22.
9. Attended Ballston Town Board and Planning Board meetings to advocate for decisions that benefit the water quality of Ballston Lake.
10. We are working with Dr. Greg Boyer of SUNY College of Environmental Science to develop a phosphorous impact study of the shoreline of Ballston Lake.
11. Applied to SUNY Oneonta to participate in their graduate program of Lake Science. We were not chosen to participate in 2014 but plan to reapply for 2015.
12. Attended the annual New York State Federation of Lake Association conference May 1-2 in Hamilton NY. Discussed possibility of developing an aeration system for Ballston Lake. This system would oxygenate the anoxic area of the lake north of the narrows and bind the phosphorous in the bottom to the iron that is there. This idea is still being evaluated and studied and grants would be needed to fund this $200,000 project.
13. Our efforts to improve the water quality center around the goal of decreasing phosphorous in the lake. Less
    phosphorous results in less algae and clearer water. Remember we can ALL help this effort! Have your septic tank pumped every 3 years. Remove weed debris from your shoreline. Keep the wake from your boat under control and 100 feet from the shoreline, Support BLIA.