EA RI J tha 12 The Dallas Post Dallas, PA ~ Wednesday, September 18, 1991 Lake (continued from page 1) time from Wilkes University val- ued at $5,000. ~The final portion of the costs will be paid with an $8,000 grant from the state's Department of Environ- mental Resources, which hasbeen budgeted for the 1991/1992 fiscal year, according to Councilman David Abod, who is also chairman = of EVAC. The Nemesis Harveys Lake's bouts with cya- nobacteria are a symptom of a process all lakes go through as they fill in with sediment and dis- appear - eutrophication. ~. Aeutrophic lake is rich in nutri- ‘ents which promote plant growth. As the plants die, they fall to the lake's bottom and decompose. The decomposition also absorbs oxy- gen from the water and kills ani- mals such as fish. ~ “Eutrophication is partofalake's : normal life span. But it should occur over 10,000 years. Man's influence can shorten that lifes- pan to hundreds, or tens of years,” said Chris Holdren,” an aquatic biologist for Coastal Environmental + ‘Services, Harveys Lake's consult- ant for the study. The activities which speed along the death of a lake are the addition of nutrients to the lake and in- creased erosion of the surround- ing area. © Those extranutrients come from man, and chief among them is phosphorus. * Phosphorus is to cyanobacteria ‘what spinach is to Popeye. It can be found in fertilizers, human . waste, and detergents. Outbreaks ofcyanobacteria were recorded at Harveys Lake as early as. 1895, but the problem is as old as civilization. 1 > The lake’s water quality has - improved greatly . Since sewers were "installed in 1977 (] i 5, S00 NN. 2 BE 2 . Dr. Michael Case, an assistant professor at Wilkes University re- fers to the problem as “cultural eutrophication.” An aquatic biolo- gist, Case specializes in limnology, the study of lakes. - When Case teaches his water quality course at Wilkes, he reads a passage from the Bible, Exodus “Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded; in the sight of the Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, he lifted up the rod and struck the water that was in the Nile, and all the water that was in the Nile turned to blood. And the fish in the Nile died; and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile"....."And all the Egyptians dug i around the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile.” - “One interpretation of this pas- sage is the blood red color is a type dieny Lpecics ol cyanooal orla. The ones at Harveys Lake are only a few.” Like all planktons, cyano- bacteria drifts with the current of the water. But it has several un- usual Sharacieristics that help it survive. “They float on the surface of the water. Each individual cyano- bacteria ‘has a small gas-filled space,” said Case. “Most other one-celled plants and animals don’t have that so they could be any- where in the water column.” “If you were another plant cell, five or ten feet down, would you get all thelight that you needed?” asks Case. . As ifthat weren't Shixizh to give it an edge, cyanobacteria secretes chemicals that inhibit the growth of other types of plankton which fish use for food, according to nt “Everybody likes a nice green lawn, but there’s a trade off. You have a green lawn, you have a green lake too.” David Abod * Chairman of the Harveys Lake Environmental Action Council | { Russell James, aquatic biologist for Ecoscience. And when cyano- bacteria growth is heavy, it can clog the gills of fish and kill them. Swimmers who come into con- tact with it may get a rash. A mouthful will make someone sick to their stomach. Livestock and pets have been killed by drinking water containing too much cyano- bacteria. This year, “the drought was one of the reasons there hasn'tbeen an algae bloom,” said James. “The reason Harveys Lake looks as good as it did this year was there was no runoff of fertilizers to feed the al- gae. It's the runoff that creates problems for the lake.” “It would be misleading to think that there's nothing wrong with the lake because this is a drought year,” adds James. In 1985 and 1987 James added 2,241 pounds of copper sulfate to Harveys Lake to treat it. While the cyanobacteria can kill fish by leeching the water's oxy- gen, Dr. Case questions the treat- ment because it can prevent fish from reproducing. In a soft-water lake like Harveys Lake, said Case, “the copper is toxic to fish eggs and very young fish, as well as aquatic insects which the fish eat.” Is copper in the lake now hurt- ing the fish population? “That will be something that will have to be taken up by the re- search,” said Case. In order to use the copper sul- fate, James had to get permission from the Pennsylvania Fish Com- mission, DER, and EPA. Because Harveys Lake has soft water, he used a concentration of copper which was less than halfas strong as he would normally use in a hard-water lake. “There’s more copper typically in every household with copper pipes than there was in the lake after I treated it,” said James. Why Harveys Lake? Harveys Lake is a big lake - the largest by volume in the state. Ironically, arelatively small tract of land (the watershed) drains into it, a fact that Dr. Case said helps make it more susceptible to out- breaks of cyanobacteria. The watershed of the state's largest natural lake is not quite six times as large as the lake's surface area. Feeding water into the lake are several very small streams and springs in the lake's bottom. The lake's outlet, Harveys Creek, trick- les more often than it roars. A typical gallon of water that runs into the lake laden with nu- trients will stay there for just over 3 years before it drains into Har- veys Creek - plenty of time for the nutrients to feed a bloom of cyano- bacteria. About a quarter of the lake's watershed is residential develop- ment, housing 2. 430 citizens in sn. oowdaeat of thal developruent $uboon ine le 2. forming a tight ring ® found it, EE means that nutrients from lawn fertilizers or septic systems that aren't con- nected to the sewer lines don't have far to go to reach the water. Harveys Lake's health is impor- tant to people far away as well as — those who live around it because its water eventually finds its way into homes in the Wyoming Valley. “A lot of what we do is from periodic helicopter surveys. The boat houses, we kind of suspect that every one of these has a little johnny in it,” said Kenneth Ander- son, manager of Forestry Opera- tions for Pennsylvania Gas and Water Company. As manager of Forestry for ~ PG&W, part of Anderson's job is to make sure there isn't anything on the company’s watershed which could contaminate drinking wa- ter. Harveys Lake is part of PG&W'’s watershed, as it feeds the Rice For an estimate, call us. Allstate’ Plenty of Free Parking Clip This and Save! - CALL FOR A QUOTE On your auto, homeowners, or life insurance. Absolutely no obligation. Senior Account Agent 480 Pierce St., Kingston, PA 283-0671 « 675-3193 W 80up : or YoU, *e agw’t “Tn aise John Cherup Every Child Deserves a Family _ Wiley House su Wiley House Foster Parents receive: * Weekly caseworker support * Financial compensation ¢ Training : for more information, call: 1-800-551-2238 RR) Dam from Harveys Creek. The water is then carried over the mountain in canals to the Ply- mouth Relief Reservoir. “Thank goodness that its far enough away that it isn’t as bad as it could be,” said Anderson. According to Dr. Case, human waste contains large amounts of phosphorus, and it doesn't take much to cause an algae bloom. “Idon’t think it would take many unconnected systems to push the lake towards eutrophication,” said Case. Working for Change The borough struck a blow against eutrophication when it completed a sewer system in 1977. “Before that raw sewage ran into the lake,” borough councilman and execu- tive director of the Harveys Lake Municipal Authority, which over- . sees the operation of the sewers. “The lake was closed more than once before that.” According to Bob Moase, area fisheries manager for the Pennsyl- vania Fish Commission, the lake's water quality has improved greatly since the sewers were installed. “In the late sixties they suffered very significant fish kills of trout,” said Moase. - Trout are more sensitive to oxygen depletion in lakes than most fish because they are adapted to the cold, bottom layer of water. In the summer, that bottom layer of water is trapped beneath the warmer water above, unable to circulate, and does not receive additional oxygen from the atmos- phere. Because there isn’t much plant life to produce oxygen below 40 feet, the bottom level of water doesn't receive any additional oxygen to support fish until the winter, when all the water becomes one temperature and circulates freely. While the trout appear to be. declining somewhat in the lake, said Richard Boice, a’ (Drawing not to scale) Blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) Blocks sunlight from reaching lower parts of the water which inhibits the growth of other plankton, clogs fish gills, and secretes substance which also inhibits the growth of other plankton. A cross section of Harveys Lake during a summer algae bloom In the summer, the water becomes separated into layers of different temperatures. The wind circulates the warmer top layer of water, adding oxygen to it. The lower levels are uncirculated and do not get additional oxygen. Upper layer (Eplimnion) Aproximately 70 degrees Fish - Bass, Pickerel, Sunfish and Bluegills ——TJhe wind _— 10 ft. Transitional layer (Thermocline) Temperature ranging from approximately 65 to 50 degrees Fish - Yellow Perch, Yellow Pike, Alewifg, Walleye Bottom layer (Hypolimnion) etele® one’ Temperature approximately 45 degrees Fish - Rainbow, Brown, Lake and Brook Trout Sediment and decaying algae 80 ft. 60 ft. Decaying algae Consumes oxygen in the lake's lower level, forcing the trout into the higher and warmer water which they are not adapted to. * most fish species are doing very well, according to Moase. In the spring the Fish Commis- sion stocked 6,600 fingerling wall- eye, 500,000 walleye just hatched from their eggs, 50,000 fingerling rainbow trout, 25,000 fingerling brown trout, and several thousand adult trout. In October, the Fish Commis- sion will be laying out nets to see how the fish are doing. “I hope to find a lot of fat fish,” said Moase. If Boice's experience while fish- ing is any indicator, Moase will get his wish. “Only once so far have I gone out and haven't caught some type of fish,” said the avid fisher- man. “I was out last night and the water was so clear it wasn’t funny.” On that trip, Boice caught a small mouth bass, a pickerel, and a walleye, which he says is one of the best eating fish around. The map is based on one made by Dr. Charles B. Reif in 1957, with added depths from a Pennslva- nia Fish Commission map. The lake statistics come from the Harveys Lake Environmental Advisory Council. : Sandy : 60 n° Harveys Lake Surface Area: 650 acres Lake Volume: 29 million cubic meters Average Depth: 36 feet Maximum Depth: 96 feet Point Breeze Alderson . Worden Place Sunset Scale: 1 inch equals approximately 1,600 feet Call Now fo plan your Fall Plantings Footpaths and Landscapes A Design & Build Company Temple University Graduate in Landscape Design & Horticulture Kurt J. Fetterman 675-8733 el Cr SL A, WHAT RESIDENTS CAN DO: BM Use a mulching lawnmower instead of fertilizer Bl Make. sure their septic system is connected to sewers Buy detergent that contains no phosphorus ‘storm sewers, Searching for Clues “Everybody goes to the doctor every year or two,” said David Abod. “The lake hasn't seen the doctor since the Gilbert Study in 1981.” When the lake study starts, volunteers from EVAC will spend a year collecting water samples from Harveys Lake, its tributaries and searching for sources of nutrients. The volun- teers will also collect sediment from the lake's bottom, and test fish tissue, looking for heavy metals, pesticides, and PCBs. Residents of the borough will be mailed questionnaires with their tax notices asking them about problems and possible solutions at the lake. Key questions that the study will have to answer are: How much water enters and exits the lake? : How many nutrients does that water carry with it? Where do the nglirients come from? Looking Ahead After the study is complete, the borough will design a plan to improve the lake. “We're going to come up with some type of erosion control pro- gram,” said David Abod. “We want to at least maintain what we have, and possibly improve the quality of the lake.” Reducing erosion will accom- plish two things—help keep the lake from filling with sediment, and reduce the nutrients entering the water. Some steps have already been taken toward that goal. In the last three years, all but one of the bor- | ough's dirt roads has been paved with a tar and chip surface. Be- sides making for better driving, the surface is slowing the erosion ~ of sediment into the lake. “Phase I (the study) will deter- mine what we do in Phase II,” said Abod. Abod compares trying to guess the cost of any measures the bor- ough decides upon before the study is complete to “putting the cart before the horse,” but he expects that the borough will apply for EPA grants to cover those costs. Possible measures include improving the storm drains around the lake, and dredging part of} increase its depth. On a personal level, residents can help improve the quality of the lake's water in several ways. “Any of the liquid fertilizer companies are some of the biggest culprits,” said Abod. “We've been looking for the past year for some- thing that might be safer to use.” Albert Timko, treasurer of EVAC and a biologist and horticultural- ist, recommends that residentsgise a lawn mower which mulches#the grass clippings as a substitute for fertilizer. They can be sure that their sep: system is connected to the scl. and they can buy detergent with- out phosphorus in it, since deter- gents usually contain large amounts of phosphorus. Harveys Lake is big, but it depends on a relatively small watershed area “In Canada, you can't bla detergent with phosphorus In it,” said Dr. Case. “The real goal is for people 0 feel they've made the lake a better place,” said Case. “They should make some changes in the way they operate so in the year 2000 they can say we're part of a sus- tainable biosphere.” “Everybody likes a nice green lawn, but there's a trade off,” said Abod. “You have a green lawn, you have a green lake too.” More of the news you want ) The Dallas Post | Every eyeglass and sunglass approved by the Food and Drug Administration must be impact- resistant. It must be able to withstand the impact of a 5/8" steel ball dropped from a height of 50 inches. This can afford you some degree of protection, butkeep in mind that these impact-resistant glasses aren't shatter-proof or break-proof. You may have greater protection than you did before the FDA regulation went into effect, but you still have to protect your eyes and your glasses from accidents. Alotdependson the care you give your glasses. Dropping Dr. Curtis Goodwin Optometrist THE IMPACT. RESISTANT LENS ~~ = fve ot cians. them can sometimes loosen the lens. If you have scratched your glasses, youmay have weakened them. They will be easier to break or shatter. It's important to have your ' glasses checked regularly. If needed, your optometrist can recommend quality lenses that meet the highest standards of impact-resistance. At the same time, he can check your eyes to make sure your glasses are giving you the best possible vision. kkk Dr. Curtis Goodwin 170 N. Memorial Highway Shavertown, PA 18708 (717) 675-3627 g ; a - i BR i, ia 3X z gh &
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