By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – State officials saw records broken for the number of months of posted warnings for cyanobacteria on lakes and ponds and while awareness has increased, funding to address the problem has not kept up.
But Friday, what Gov. Chris Sununu said was a “start” to finding a long-term funding source was approved.
Sununu asked and the joint legislative Fiscal Committee agreed Friday to spend $500,0000 in remaining federal ARPA dollars to create a new fund to be overseen by the NH Lakes Association to help communities wrap their arms around the size and scope of the problem.
The challenge to create a long-term fund to help lake associations and municipalities is that “we don’t know what the need is,” said Sununu on Wednesday as he spoke to the media on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in Meredith following an Executive Council meeting at Church Landing.
Two years ago, the legislature created a $2.5 million fund to help communities fight cyanobacteria and that money has dried up, said Andrea LaMoreaux, president of the NH Lakes Association.
Sununu said state Rep. Mark McConkey, R-Freedom, came to him and suggested this one time ARPA fund to help towns understand the extent this is a problem because they need to hire people to help with master plan studies of watersheds where areas of pollution may exist. Cyanobacteria growth is aided when nitrogen and phosphorus enter lakes particularly after heavy storms.
Those toxic blooms can can kill dogs, sicken people, force warnings for people to stay out of the water and reduce property values on lakes and ponds.
Sununu said “what we have to do is kind of study – and it’s a lot of the towns a lot of them are local water bodies – they need to bring folks in to study, is there a cyanobacteria problem? What is the source of it?”
“The bulk of this $500,000 we are putting forward will help these towns fund their own studies so we can figure out what they need,” he said. “It’s really getting around the size and scope of the problem. So that’s the first step. Now beyond that, once you figure out is this a $2 million thing, is it $1 million a year that is what we are going to need for these projects, is it bigger than that? Then you can talk about where the funding source might come from and how big it might be. But we don’t really understand the size and impact of the problem.”
He cautioned legislators who might be asked through legislation in 2025 to create a long-term fund through the creation of a new license plate. It has been discussed in the past.
“Be careful with the license plate stuff. That works really well for a couple of dedicated programs we have,” the governor said. “Every time you institute a new license fee program you dilute all the other license plate dollars that are going to an already established, dedicated program,” such as the Moose plates.
“It could be an ongoing issue for the next few years, don’t just find one time money or one time grant and think that is going to solve your problems,” Sununu said.
He added that in addition to McConkey, who is running for state Senate to fill a vacancy created by outgoing Republican Senate President Jeb Bradley, that Bradley has been behind the last minute, $500,000 ARPA request.
McConkey said this week that cyanobacteria is a “bipartisan” issue that the state needs to get ahead of and he called clean water “extremely necessary” for the financial health of the state as well.
He said there could be a “tragic loss” to people’s property values if cyanobacteria blooms persist on water bodies in the summer.
STATE NUMBERS
Cyanobacteria blooms on lakes and ponds has been something that the state has been monitoring since 2003 but New Hampshire’s cyanobacteria lab has never been busier than this summer analyzing samples from a growing number of locations, including Lake Winnipesaukee.
Kate Hastings, who is the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Service’s cyanobacteria program manager said on a monthly basis May, August and September, 2024 hit all-time high warning reports for cyanobacteria.
David Neils, administrator for the Watershed Management Bureau of the NH Department of Environmental Services Water Division, within the NH Department of Environmental Services said there were at least 58 warnings issued to water bodies.
He said his department’s focus has been teaching the public what blooms look like and letting them know that their eyes are the best tool.
If there are more warnings because people are more educated and know what to look for or if the problem is increasing is still unknown.
“We’ve always known the program will never catch every bloom and that numbers may fluctuate yearly,” he said. “That’s why public awareness about what to look for is the most important thing.”
As in previous years, Neils said, the bloom reporting system will be available to the public and NHDES continued sampling through Oct. 15.
VETO OVERRIDE
Last week, the House and Senate voted to override Sununu’s veto on a bill related to cyanobacteria 232-99 in the House and in the Senate, 22-1.
House Bill 1293, which aims to regulate the application of some types of fertilizer on grass turf near water and storm drains, will go into effect Jan. 1. It also requires retailers to properly sign the products and cite the law.
Golf courses and sod farms would not be impacted.
It is the phosphorus contained within these certain fertilizers which help cyanobacteria grow out of control.
Sununu, the outgoing Republican who vetoed it, said the bill was too broad and vague and any future legislation should be more lake-specific.
He said if made law, the bill could “put countless well-meaning families unwittingly in violation of the law” for applying a product to their privately-owned lawns.
The legislature also approved a bill which went into effect in September related to faulty septic systems within 250 feet of shoreline, requiring the buyer prior to a closing to replace the failing system within 180 days and requiring an analysis report to the town.
POLITICS ON THE PROBLEM
This summer Sununu, however, has downplayed the dangers of cyanobacteria and chided the messaging of the DES days before Labor Day when there were cyanobacteria warnings on Lake Winnipesaukee including places like the open and deep area of the big lake known as The Broads.
“This is not toxic. This does not kill people…so please work with your department, get the messaging straight, work with the legislature, and make sure some of these solutions are there, but please make sure that people understand this is not some deadly bacteria bloom that should shut down beaches or anything like that,” Sununu said.
DES Commissioner Bob Scott responded that, “despite some confusion, it’s important to note that NHDES has never closed water bodies of any type to recreational use for cyanobacteria.”
Both gubernatorial candidates Kelly Ayotte, the Republican and Joyce Craig, the Democrat have acknowledged on the campaign trail that cyanobacteria is a state problem and have called for a coordinated effort to try to combat it.
Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington, D-Concord, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, said cyanobacteria pose “real threats to the lake and to public safety and to our economy. So I guess my question is what are we doing to identify the root causes, to educate the public about what the causes are so that they can take action and what treatment or remedial action we can take.”
CURRENT STATUS
The Department of Environmental Services is now turning from the microscope for the winter months but will be resuming testing in the spring.
Neils said: “Our goal is to provide tools, like the map which is updated daily and information about what a bloom looks like, so the public can make informed decisions in real time.”
Currently, that map https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/8d84a6b03acb4efaab571b222c78447b
shows warnings issued for Lake Ivanhoe in Wakefield, Locke Lake in Barnstead, and Arlington Mill Reservoir in Salem.
The state will resume issuing warnings and watches on May 15, 2025, Hastings said.
She said in the off-season, which now begins, watches are issued as necessary.
Once warnings are issued resampling continues until densities decline below the recreational level. The state posts warnings when the densities for cyanobacteria blooms exceed 77,000 cells per milliliter.
She said the state will be dropping from weekly resampling to biweekly resampling following Oct. 15.
“Updates will continue to be made to the Healthy Swimming Mapper, and email notifications are still being sent to waterbody specific email groups,” she said.
On its website, DES warns the public against swimming in locations where there is a bloom and also says it is OK to boat or otherwise recreate without contact.
WHAT IS CYANOBACTERIA
“Cyanobacteria blooms can be harmful to pets, livestock, wildlife and people. Cyanobacteria can cause both acute and chronic illnesses. Acute effects, such as skin and mucous membrane irritation, can occur after short-term exposure. Chronic effects such as liver, kidney and central nervous system damage can occur from ingesting impacted water over a long period of time.”
Robert Scott, the DES commissioner, said the underlying reasons are really watershed specific but typically storm runoff is a main cause and a mild winter.
“There is no quick solution,” Scott said, though he noted that an alum treatment of the much smaller Lake Kanasatka was successful.
“We are worried about Lake Winnipesaukee, obviously, it is a huge income generator for the state, understandably with tourism and other things … .this should not be a consolation but if you look all the way from Massachusetts down to Florida, this is not a unique thing, unfortunately…It’s a learning thing for us as well,” Scott said.
Scott said he expects a lot of political action on the subject when the legislature returns this winter.
State Rep. Rosemarie Rung, D-Merrimack, said she plans to file a number of bills related to cyanobacteria in the coming months which she believes have bipartisan support.
LaMoreaux who is both president and policy advocate for the NH Lakes Association, sent a letter to members of lake associations that the past season, while tough in terms of cyanobacteria warnings, ended on a high note with the veto override and that she is optimistic that the state will continue to have “lake-friendly” measures taken to help aid the issue.
