Putnam County’s Lakes Are in Peril: Here’s How to Help Them

By Michael Gold

Lake Carmel, Palmer Lake and other lakes in Putnam County are at risk from harmful algal blooms (HABS), a result at least in part from increased phosphorus and nitrogen loads leaking into these water bodies.

“Algae blooms are affecting lakes all around Kent and the state,” explained Bill Volckmann, chair of the Kent Conservation Advisory Committee (CAC), at a Putnam County Land Trust, Arts on the Lake and Putnam County Dance Project event promoting clean water around the world last month at Lake Carmel. “Harmful algae blooms are a symptom of degradation of water quality,” he added. “Algae blooms are indicative of human involvement.”

“Our lakes are having difficulty,” said Kent Councilwoman Anne Campbell, who also attended the event. “Phosphorus is a big problem in the lakes. Phosphorus leads to algae blooms. Pollution problems like algae blooms limit residents’ ability to enjoy the lakes.”

It’s not just a question of having something nice to look at either. Swimming in a lake with HABs can potentially harm your health.

“Harmful algal blooms are the rapid growth of algae or cyanobacteria (blue green algae) that can cause harm to people, animals or the local ecology. These blooms can produce toxins that make people and animals sick,” states the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.

“You could swim in Palmer Lake in the past,” said Kathy Kahng, a Palmer Lake resident, chair of the Lake Committee for the Hill and Dale Neighborhood Association, a Palmer Lake representative on the Town of Kent Lakes Association and a Putnam County Land Trust board trustee.

“I went kayaking on Palmer Lake for 20 years.” Now, she said, “Palmer Lake is considered an impaired lake. So is Lake Carmel.”

“Impaired waters are waters that are too polluted or otherwise degraded to meet water quality standards,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“People don’t use the lakes for boating, swimming or fishing as much as they used to,” Kahng said.

Kahgn explained what is contributing to HAB events.

“Residential septic leakage is causing excess phosphorus and nitrogen,” she said. “This boosts the growth of weeds and invasive species and the growth of harmful algal blooms.”

“In general, sources of phosphorous that impact water quality include septic systems, stormwater runoff, agricultural operations, wastewater treatment plants, atmospheric deposition, groundwater and lake sediment resuspension,” concluded a 2015 state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) study on Palmer Lake.

“Climate change can increase the growth of harmful algae and cyanobacteria in fresh, salt, and brackish water. It can make blooms occur more often and be more severe,” the CDC website also explains.

Roaring Brook Lake and Barrett Pond suffered confirmed HABs in early June, according to the DEC. Putnam Lake had a confirmed HAB event in late June. All three cases are “small, localized blooms,” the DEC website states.

A small, localized bloom means the HAB “is in a small area of the water body, limited from one to several neighboring properties.

The data on Roaring Brook Lake and Barrett Pond was gathered by the Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment Program (CSLAP). CSLAP is a “volunteer lake monitoring and education program that is managed cooperatively by DEC and New York State Federation of Lake Associations,” the DEC website explains. Trained volunteers go to the water body sites, retrieve a sample of the water, then send bottle samples to a DEC lab in Syracuse for testing and confirmation of what is in the water. The Putnam Lake data was gathered by the state Department of Health.

“Some of our homes have grossly inadequate septic systems,” said Campbell, who lives on Kentwood Lake. “Also, we have big stormwater and drainage issues in town. Heavy rains with storm runoff will raise the phosphorus content of the lakes.”

To help stem the flow of phosphorus and nitrogen residents can repair their septic systems, Campbell pointed out.

“We’re trying to find the funds to have people replace, repair or upgrade their septic systems,” she explained.

The Fuji Clean septic tank removes “a lot of harmful nutrients, so they’re not getting into the soil,” Kahng said. “It reduces the phosphorus and nitrogen load.”

“Fuji is basically a scaled-down sewage treatment plant,” said Pat Tyndall, of Tyndall Septic Systems, an exhibitor at the event which installs Fuji systems. “The system breaks down nitrogen and phosphorus. Clean water comes out of the tank.”

In a follow-up e-mail, Volckmann explained another critical issue.

“Invasives are a big problem, which can be mitigated through awareness of our activities around and between water bodies, including being aware when we move from one water body to another, cleaning our water gear, which can include kayaks, canoes, boats, scuba, or water swim gear, etc., so we do not transfer seeds from one water body to another.”

Pleasantville-based writer Michael Gold has had articles published in the New York Daily News, the Albany Times Union, The Virginian-Pilot, The Palm Beach Post and other newspapers, and The Hardy Society Journal, a British literary journal.