News & Events

Spring Clean Up at the Lake

May 3, 2021

Spring Clean Up at the Lake

Spring is a great time to do this because the water is high. If we each take some time to pick up trash the lake will be the better for it. We have reports that quite a bit of trash has floated up into the cattails in the main channel.

Here are some other ways to keep our lake clean:
Don’t allow grass clippings, leaves or other lawn debris to fall into the lake.
Never blow your leaves into the lake.
Use a zero-phosphorus fertilizer.
Pick up pet waste. Never dump geese or duck droppings in the water.
When landscaping near the water, beware of possible erosion.
Big waves cause shoreline erosion. Go slowly in NO WAKE areas.
Always take a trash bag in your boat, kayak, or canoe.
If you have a septic system make sure it functions properly.
Don’t use the lake as a bathtub. Soaps and shampoos contain nutrients and pollutants that are harmful to the lake and organisms living in it.

SPECIAL PROBLEM WITH PLASTICS

According to the Rochester Institute of Technology, 80% of the litter in the Great Lakes is plastic debris. That’s 22 million tons! We don’t have that magnitude of a littering problem here at our lake. But don’t let those plastic water bottles blow off of your boat. Plastics that stay in lake water continue to break down from exposure to sunlight and waves. Once broken down microplastics affect our water quality. “Perhaps the most worrisome aspect is that the impact of microplastics on human health remains unclear. Plastics are known to attract industrial contaminants already in the water, like PCBs, while expelling their own chemical additives intended to make them durable, including flame retardants.”