Fourth of July Issue

Delayed Harvesting
and Phosphorus
a Concern for
Fragile Lake
Story by MICHAEL DAIGLE
Photos by KAREN FUCITO
Pat Rose, environmental scientist and Katie Walston, senior scientist—both from
Princeton Hydro—conduct water quality tests in the main lake near River Styx Bridge.
If the summer of 2019—the summer of
the silent lake and cyanobacteria—showed
residents anything, it was that the condition
of Lake Hopatcong’s water is a fragile and
changeable thing.
Last year showed how one slightly out-ofnormal
instance cascaded into a season-ending,
lake-wide event—the seven-month long Harmful
Algal Bloom (HAB).
The 2019 Lake Hopatcong Water Quality
Report, issued by Princeton Hydro LLC, the
lake community’s consultants, described how the
higher level of runoff increased the amount of
phosphorus in the water, which then fueled the
growth of the cyanobacteria that produced the
HAB.
First, the report noted, the wet spring of 2019
with periodic heavy rains resulted in an increased
amount of polluted runoff flushing into the lake’s
many coves. Combined with days of sunny, calm
weather, that set the stage for the event that—for
all intents and purposes—closed Lake Hopatcong
last year.
What could be different so far in 2020 is the
weather, said Fred Lubnow, director of aquatic
programs for Princeton Hydro.
The spring through April has been cooler, a
pattern which, if it continues, could retard the
growth of cyanobacteria, he said.
In addition, said Colleen Lyons, administrator
for the Lake Hopatcong Commission, the
generally windy conditions in the 2020 spring,
combined with cooler temperatures, have acted
as an inhibitor for the development of a HAB.
6
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Fourth of July 2020
Cyanobacteria need calm and warm water
conditions for production of a HAB, she said.
The warmer 2019-2020 winter, with little
ice cover, however, helped generate faster weed
growth, Lyons said, a factor now complicated by
the delay in the annual weed harvesting program.
The presence of the extensive HAB last year
reduced the effectiveness of the annual weed
harvesting program, the lake’s most effective
phosphorus-reducing effort, the report said,
resulting in more phosphorus in the lake, and
ultimately, more cyanobacteria.
The status of the 2020 weed harvesting program
was in flux throughout the spring, Lyons said.
In a normal year, weed harvesters would have
been on Lake Hopatcong for a few weeks by
early June. In a normal year, the Lake Hopatcong
Commission, the agency charged with
maintaining the quality of the lake water, would
be completing one budget year and anticipating
new funding from the new state budget that
would be in effect on July 1.
But 2020 is not a normal year.
“We’re in no man’s land,” said Ronald Smith,
commission chairman.
A statewide emergency declared in March by
Gov. Phil Murphy to combat the coronavirus
pandemic shut down a large portion of the state’s
business community and state agencies—most
important to the lake commission, the Motor
Vehicle Commission, which registers vehicles and
boats.
Since 2017, the commission had received
an annual allocation of $500,000 through the
MVC’s collection of an $18 fee for a 48-month
license to operate a powerboat or personal
watercraft on non-tidal waters. The money was
used to cover operations and the costs of weed
harvesting.
The shutdown cut state revenues for 2020 by
$2.7 billion, said state Treasurer Elizabeth Maher
Muoio. In response, the state cut $1.3 billion
from its current budget, including the funds for
the lake commission.
“We didn’t get our last [quarterly] payment,”
Smith said. “Our funds are allocated from the
fees collected each year for boat registration and
renewals. With the shutdown, those funds had
not been collected.”
More troubling, Smith said, is that the state
budget year, which usually begins July 1, has
been shifted to begin October 1, meaning the
commission could need a longer short-term plan.
Such a plan was in development in early June.
Representatives from the commission, the Lake
Hopatcong Foundation, the state Department of
Environmental Protection, the four lake towns
and state legislators were meeting to get the weed
harvesting crews back on the lake.
By June 17, said Lyons, weed harvesting had
finally begun. New parts were purchased by the
commission to get the machines running properly
and the DEP had hired five seasonal employees to
help run the program.
“We’re running a limited program,” said Lyons.
Working with the DEP, the commission
identified the “worst impacted areas” and came
up with a schedule that addresses those areas