By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
MOULTONBOROUGH – While all is calm and crystal clear on Lake Kanasatka Monday, one of its summer lake residents is a lawmaker who is busy planning for new bills to take on toxic cyanobacteria blooms across the state if re-elected.
Cyanobacteria is one of the most ancient and necessary organisms. But in high concentrations and increasingly on the state’s water bodies, it can form toxic blooms.
Drinking from the blooms can lead to death for animals and neurologic injuries and illness to humans. It is a major and growing health and property value concern.
On Monday, the state had four lakes and ponds under a cyanobacteria watch (or alert) including Lake Winnisquam, Silver Lake in Hollis, Phillips Pond in Sandown and Lake Ivanhoe in Wakefield and another six listed for cyanobacteria warnings including Province Lake in Effingham and Wakefield, Pawtuckaway in Nottingham, Tucker Pond in Salisbury, Bow Lake in Strafford, Halfmoon Lake in Kingston and Baboosic Lake in Amherst. The state map is updated daily at https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/8d84a6b03acb4efaab571b222c78447b
A LAKE “CHAMPION” GETS TO WORK
State Rep. Rosemarie Rung, D-Merrimack, is considered a “champion” on the subject of lake health and is a summer resident on Lake Kanasatka here.
This 371-acre water body near Lake Winnipesaukee and Red Hill was plagued for several years with cyanobacteria. That led Rung to turn some of her energies toward the issue.
As a representative of Merrimack in the southern part of the state, she has worked on PFAS contamination in groundwater. It led to legislative efforts in that realm as well which have been made law.
Rung said she believes the Department of Environmental Services is under-resourced to manage the problem of cyanobacteria effectively.
Rung said there is only one staff person who analyzes water samples during a Monday through Friday work week, despite the increased lake activity during the weekends and that can lead to delays in information getting out to the public.
Rung said she is considering a number of bills if re-elected and here are her ideas:
RAISE FINES TO CREATE A MITIGATION FUND
One possible bill would raise the fines for violations of the state’s Shoreland Protection Act to disincentivize actions that put lakes at greater risk for blooms.
Money from fines collected would go into a cyanobacteria mitigation fund, she said.
NEW “LOON” PLATE
One idea to support cyanobacteria management is to offer a new state “loon” license plate to support lake health. She noted the current “moose” plate money goes to programs not directly addressing this issue.
REVOLVING LOAN FUND FOR SEPTIC
Yet another bill she is considering relates to the creation of a revolving loan fund to help replace failed shoreland septic systems.
She said the expense of a new system is often beyond the reach of many lakefront property owners and their systems’ failure is a concern for all, including the state who hold waterways in the public trust.
WAKE SURFING LIMITS
Likely to resurface into a bill is one that Rung supported but did not pass last session related to increasing the distance from shoreland for wake surfing.
A bill to do that failed this past session with heavy opposition from the watersports industry.
Neighboring Maine and Vermont already have such measures and some argued that fact would drive more wave actions to New Hampshire.
Wave action on shore causes erosion and sediment disruption that scientists say increase the levels of phosphorus, a key nutrient feeding cyanobacteria blooms, Rung said.
JET SKI DEFINITION CHANGE
Another area under consideration for new laws which may resurface is for residents to petition the Department of Safety on certain uses and to update the definition of a “jet ski.” The current definition is outdated due to changes in marine industry construction and many of the multiple seat jet craft are not considered “jet skis” by law.
SURFACE WATER CONCERNS
Another concern for the future, Rung said, is the fact that over 23 communities in the state including Laconia pull their drinking water from surface water. It can become contaminated with cyanotoxin during a bloom. That is a long-term issue which the state will need to address and could be very expensive, but there is some settlement money the state now has access to, which could be used to help the problem.
PAST SUCCESS
Kevin Kelly, chair of the newly-created Moultonborough Cyanobacteria Committee and a leader on lake health issues on Lake Kanasatka, said that Rep. Rung is not only a summer neighbor but a true “champion” on the issue of cyanobacteria, whose hard work has led to success for the entire state.
Rung was named by the New Hampshire Lakes Association as its Sid Lovett Memorial Award winner this year for lake stewardship and leadership. Rung had a number of successful bills that passed both the House and Senate and were signed by the governor related to fighting cyanobacteria.
In the past, Rung either sponsored or co-sponsored 50 bills on a host of issues (focused on PFAS, landfills and lake health) and 16, so far, have been signed into law by Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican.
A link to Rung’s bill history is here https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/results.aspx?adv=2&empno=9090
Known for dealing with the PFAS issue in groundwater near her hometown in Merrimack, Rung said she became interested in the issue of cyanobacteria about four years ago when the waters to her cottage in Moultonborough were for all intents and purposes off limits.
It also kept her neighbors, their pets and children at a nearby summer camp out of the water, on and off for several years.
“People have always taken such pride in the pristine water here,” Rung said during a recent interview. “The more I looked into this, I realized this is the biggest threat to New Hampshire that no one knows about.”
In 2020 and 2021 she set about passing a bill which led to a cyanobacteria management plan developed by the state Department of Environmental Services.
It contained several legislative and non-legislative recommendations to address issues around cyanobacteria blooms.
The bill also called for an advisory committee which included the state veterinarian, the Lake Winnipesaukee Association, a limnologist (who studies lake health) and watershed management officials to work with NHDES on the plan.
Another bill Rung sponsored led to the formation of a cyanobacteria mitigation fund to help develop watershed management plans and help pay for projects to reduce phosphorus entering waterways.
About $1 million to fight the problem came from federal American Rescue Plan Act money which was matched by the state, but officials say most of that has been spent.
LESSONS FROM A DEEP DIVE
Rung took a deep dive into the science of lakes and learned that water is warming all over the world which helps cyanobacteria to grow into a bloom, especially when there is excess.
Not all cyanobacteria blooms are toxic but people are urged to take caution and assume they are until tested.
Phosphorus, which feeds cyanobacteria, enters the water from failed septic systems, stormwater runoff, lawn fertilizers and animal waste that washes in.
Shoreline erosion, from wave action or de-vegetation causes soil banks to wash into the lake, adding phosphorus and clouding the water.
She also learned another important first step to dealing with the issue: A plan.
“You can’t really know what the specific source of phosphorus is without a professional watershed plan,” Rung said and that takes a lot of money.
But it was through the funding of a watershed plan for Lake Kanasatka that the lake got a handle on what was causing the blooms.
For Lake Kanasatka, which she looks out upon many summer days, Rung said the primary source for cyanobacteria blooms has been attributed to “internal lake loading,” where phosphorus is coming from the lake sediment.
A link to the plan for Kanasatka is here https://kanasatka.org/watershed-based-management-plan/
Muck at the bottom of the lake, old plant debris, leaves and such held phosphorus in the sediment and with rapidly warming water in the spring, the lake water did not completely “turn over” depleting oxygen from water at the bottom of the lake. The lower oxygen level released phosphorus into the water column becoming available to trigger blooms. To reduce internal loading: the lake management plan recommended in-lake treatment of alum to bind phosphorus to the sediment.
Alum treatments have been successfully used on Nippo Lake in Barrington and Keysar Lake in Sutton, at least so far.
Even with the treatment, Rung said it is important to reduce the external sources of phosphorus entering lakes to extend the effectiveness of the treatment, which is very expensive.
“We had to lower our external loading on Kanasatka to be considered for the alum treatment,” and its lake association raised money to complete some mitigation projects.
The plan identified problem areas around the lake from slowing runoff to help assist with septic system evaluations.
So far, the lake is clear on Kanasatka and people have been enjoying it all summer long, unlike the past few years.
On Lake Winnipesaukee, which is like seven or eight lakes in one, all bays or areas either have a plan or work is continuing to complete them, said Pat Tarpey, executive director of the Lake Winnipesaukee Association.
Rung said, “The need is not going down,” and the number of cyanobacteria blooms seen on Lake Winnipesaukee in June, which have since subsided, got a lot of people’s attention, which may help her cause in Concord.
She urged the public to err on the side of caution around cyanobacteria until more is known and to take warnings and advisories seriously.
“By law, the DES can’t ban anyone from going in the water,” Rung said. “It is important for the public to recognize what a bloom looks like and when in doubt, stay out.”
