Task Force Summer 2024 Newsletter

Dear Friends of Lake Waramaug,

I feel that I must start my last letter as Chair of the LWTF with a sincere “Thank You” to every donor for your genuine concern for the lake and your financial support of the Task Force’s efforts to keep the lake in the cleanest and healthiest condition possible.

During these three years, I have witnessed how important the lake is to those who live on it, those who live near it and those who live miles from its shoreline. Lake Waramaug is at the heart of a very widespread community and when the lake faces challenges – be it climate change, erosion, invasive weeds, algae blooms – I have seen the community come together to help and step up to provide the funds for projects needed to combat the ongoing list of water issues.

At this time, I would like to add another note of thanks and acknowledge all my fellow Board members. Each one of these men and women care deeply for our lake and demonstrate their passion for it by working throughout the year to maintain its superior water quality. Through their hard work and vigorous debate, as well as the counsel of our many consulting scientists, the Board of the LWTF continues to find innovative ways to help the lake survive the ever-changing environment and everincreasing human interaction it is subjected to each year.

It should be noted that the winter of 2023-24 represented the second consecutive year in which the lake did not have a solid ice cover. This is a clear indication of how our climate is changing. With the help of our scientific team, the LWTF is exploring what this new normal means for the lake:

  • How will water quality be affected as we move through the year?

  • Will the lake lose clarity, will it experience more algae blooms?

  • Will we see more invasive weeds because they are not killed off by the winter’s cold temperatures?

  • Will the increase of heavy rain storms with extreme run-off damage water quality?

And one of the most important questions:

  • Will the thermocline be affected in the lake?

(The thermocline is a boundary layer that sets up during the summer and separates the cold- stagnant-nutrient-rich bottom water from the upper layers of the lake. Our Layer Aeration System works to keep that boundary layer as low as possible in the water column as summer heat can attack and even erode the thermocline, moving it closer to the surface of the lake. Suppressing the thermocline is key to controlling cyanobacteria blooms. This is because cyanobacteria can control their buoyancy and float down to this nutrient rich bottom layer at night and feed, and then floatback to the sunlight to produce food. Our aerations system’s most important effect is to “push down” the nutrient rich bottom water to make cyanobacteria’s food source out of reach for their daily commute. We worry about water temperature rise as this will bring the thermocline closer to the surface. Once this happens the lake can begin to experience some cyanobacteria blooms which can become more and more common as summer progresses in to fall).

Finally, it has been an honor to be Chair of the TF these last three years. It was a great experience working closely with Sean Hayden, our Executive Director, and such a pro-active and committed Board. I feel that the organization is stronger than ever and ready to meet the lake’s challenges head on.

Thank you, again, for being such a critical part of the Lake Waramaug community and for your assistance in keeping the lake one of the most pristine lakes in the state.

Mike Guadagno

Chair, Lake Waramaug Task Force

Task Force Fall 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends of Lake Waramaug,

As we approach our fiftieth anniversary in 2025, we have much to celebrate: Lake Waramaug was rescued from the brink of eutrophic death and is now recognized as one of the most beautiful and iconic locations in Connecticut. What an achievement for those who gathered in 1975 and those who accepted the mission in the years since!

From the beginning, we studied the lake, recorded clarity data, water temperatures, bacteria levels, and vegetation growth and we continue to do so. We measured water levels, as well as the effects of run-off from farms and residential properties, and we continue to gather this information today. We have monitored fish species in the lake and the benefits they provide to water quality. This monitoring continues in much the same way as it did when the LWTF began, but with better technology. The Task Force has applied cutting edge science to develop the best practices to thwart old and new threats to the lake’s water quality. We have developed school programs and community information sessions to demonstrate how we care for the lake, and the great need to protect the lake environment today and in the future. We have always engaged in thoughtful debates as to how best to use our generous donations in order to maintain our prized lake.

We have learned a great deal during this time. When presented with the invasive weed problem in the 1990’s, it was suggested by some experts that adding large quantities of chemicals to our lake was the only solution. Rather than accept this radical treatment as the absolute remedy to the weed problem, the Task Force established a weed mapping and harvesting program to eradicate invasive weeds. This proved to be a great success and the ecological balance of our lake was not compromised by toxic chemicals. Our harvesting program continues every year. The Task Force has learned that gathering information and data coupled with methodical decision-making leads to truly remarkable results. We have learned that lake conditions change from year to year, and we must adapt our decisions to the varied needs of the lake when they present themselves.

We have also learned that we can turn to the community for their help and cooperation as we did last year during the severe drought. The Task Force asked all boaters not to create wakes near the delta at the mouth of the Sucker Brook to prevent nutrient rich sediments on the delta from being dragged further into the lake by boat wave wash. Boaters were also asked to stay 300 feet from any shoreline in order to protect areas newly exposed by the drought. This was a great example of the Task Force and the lake community working to do what is best for the lake.

During the past year we made the decision to move one of our four aerators to a new location, enabling it to run more efficiently which helps to keep the thermocline stable and traps cyanobacteria in the lower layers of the lake, helping to prevent blooms. We have dredged a new channel from the mouth of the Sucker Brook to allow cold, oxygenated water to flow into the lake and not stagnate on the delta. We are also completing engineering plans that will secure one of the largest erosion sites on Sucker Brook. This represents the fourth major stabilization accomplished by the Task Force in the watershed in the past ten years.

Finally, this summer we contacted Terra Vigilis, a well-known and highly respected firm, to work with the three towns surrounding the lake to create and conduct a multi-town survey that will help them to understand how the communities use the lake and how they would like it used in the future.

Additionally, we are looking at Terra Vigilis’s capabilities to conduct a large wave displacement impact study on Lake Waramaug. This will allow us to better understand how our lake’s shoreline and sediments are affected by large wave recreation. This will be the first recreational wave impact study to be done in the state of Connecticut.

Lastly, thank you again for your continued financial support of the LWTF. Your generosity allows us to continue with our vital annual programs for the lake and to plan for future projects which will give Lake Waramaug the best chance to remain the jewel that we all know it is.

Mike Guadagno

Chair, Lake Waramaug Task Force

Task Force Spring 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends of Lake Waramaug,

Spring is here and like many of you I am looking forward to another wonderful season on Lake Waramaug. As the trees bloom and families return to the lake, I can’t help but think how lucky we were to find a little cottage for sale on Arrow Point twenty-two years ago. Owing property on lake Waramaug has been one of the best decisions my wife and I have ever made.

But here is a question: “Who owns Lake Waramaug?”

Ownership of the lake actually falls under the concept of the Public Trust Doctrine which states that natural resources be preserved in perpetuity for public use and enjoyment. Over the last 50 years, the state strengthened its “clean water culture” and created laws and regulations to protect and improve lakes. But the reality is that the state can only do so much to see that lake water is protected and water quality improves. The bulk of the job of preserving Lake Waramaug falls on our local community.

The Task Force is strongly committed to its mission to protect the lake and we are able to do so because of the wonderful people involved in the stewardship of the lake and the generosity of its many patrons. It is because of these donors, especially those who made or renewed a 3-year pledge, the Task Force has been able to create a multi-year strategic plan to limit negative effects on our lake from the ever-changing environment.

To improve water quality at the lake, the Task Force, in partnership with the Mullen family, has recently contracted with New England Aquatic Services to dredge a new channel out of the delta at the mouth of Sucker Brook. This will allow cold water to flow to the lake even when water levels drop over the summer. Cold, oxygenated water is the life blood of a healthy lake. Currently, the size of the delta prevents this vital exchange.

The Task Force has also begun the process to remediate one of the largest sedimentproducing erosion sites in Sucker Brook along the Rte. 45 corridor. Once permits are issued, the Task Force, with the guidance of engineers and consultants and with the permission of the adjacent landowners, will put into place a remediation structure to prevent further erosion. The completion of this effort, along with the repair work promised by the State to a Sucker Brook erosion site under Rte. 45, should greatly reduce sediment flows to the delta for years to come. The work of securing additional erosion sites along Sucker Brook will continue, but this current work is a big step in the right direction.

On behalf of the Task Force Board and the many partners and volunteers who assist us each year. I would like to thank you, the caretakers of the lake, for being active stewards and for helping us make many of these improvement initiatives possible. Your continued support is vital to our efforts.

Mike Guadagno Chair

Lake Waramaug Task Force

Task Force Fall 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friend of the Lake,

As I begin this message for the fall newsletter, I can’t deny my concerns about the ongoing drought in western Connecticut and its effects on our Lake. We have all enjoyed a great stretch of beautiful, sun-drenched weeks at the lake this summer. Brilliant sunshine, no significant rain and thirty days of 90-degree temperatures seems like a perfect scenario for summer enjoyment. However, the summer produced good news and bad news for Lake Waramaug.

The good news: With low rainfall totals the Lake experienced a minimum amount of harmful nutrient flows. This allowed water clarity to improve over the disappointing levels in 2020 and 2021.

The bad news: Lake levels have dropped significantly and exposed greater areas of the shoreline, some of which have been uncovered for the first time. The two-acre delta at the base of Sucker Brook is an example of a large exposed area of nutrient rich sediment.

Smaller deltas have been exposed in other years but what makes this year different is the size of the delta and the excessive wave action created by wake boats and waves created by the tight circling by tubing. These waves crash over the delta, pick up nutrients and drag them back into the Lake as the water recedes. These nutrients are the primary source of cyanobacteria growth which we know is one of the greatest threats to Lake Waramaug. An increase in cyanobacteria levels could ultimately determine much of what happens to the Lake’s water quality in the spring, summer and fall of 2023 and beyond. This is why we sent the urgent email concerning boating activity on August 25th.

While we continue to monitor Lake Waramaug during the drought, the Task Force continues its work in the watershed to identify erosion sites along the banks of the Lake’s many tributaries. We know that these erosion sites greatly contribute to increasing sediment deposits and water quality issues. While the Task Force has mitigated some sites in the past, there are numerous additional erosion sites that need attention and they will be expensive to stabilize.

The Task Force has also been working with the three towns that surround Lake Waramaug, Warren, Washington and Kent, to open dialogue with officials to improve permitting and building procedures to be more protective of wetland and open water resources in the watershed. In Washington, we are supplying officials with Lake level and stream flow data so that they can determine the best way to manage state required Lake water outflows at the Washington dam, all in an effort to keep lake levels as constant as possible.

We know that each year will present different types of adversity for Lake Waramaug and that the “TASK OF PROTECTING AND IMPROVING THE LAKE” is an ongoing process. We believe if we work together as concerned partners, Lake Waramaug will remain the crown jewel in the Connecticut lake system.

Mike Guadagno

Lake Waramaug Task Force Chair

Task Force Spring 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friends of Lake Waramaug,

Spring and summer promise to be exciting seasons on Lake Waramaug. The ice has melted, the docks are in and soon the boats will arrive! The State Park will come alive with campers, kayakers and swimmers. (And, I for one, love the smell of the camp fires on summer evenings!)

The homes around the lake will be busy with family and friends, all of whom come to see our magnificent lake and enjoy its beauty.

Each year brings hope for great weather, family gatherings and a sense of community as we all help in some way to preserve our great lake. The Task Force will once again be deploying all of our resources to keep our lake as pristine as possible. Each year the Task Force Executive Director, Sean Hayden, and his dedicated staff place teams of scientists, divers, plant harvesters and monitoring equipment on the lake to check its clarity, health, bacteria levels and for the presence of invasive weeds. With the help of the boat inspection program, a new level of cooperation at the State Park, the private clubs and the three towns around the lake, we are hopeful for a very successful year.

In this newsletter you will find articles written about a few of the scientists who monitor the lake. Their work reflects the attention they devote to inspecting the lake for clarity and quality each week of the season. This monitoring and the use of the aerators near Washington Beach and Arrow Point are critical to achieve one goal: to help our lake fight against the environmental obstacles it faces each year.

This year and in the future, the Task Force will be placing greater emphasis on water quality in the feeder streams and on the environmental issues affecting the lake in the watershed. According to our scientific teams the watershed is where the Task Force and the local town governing bodies can do the most good for the lake’s health now and in the future. Pollution and sediment filled runoff from the watershed area, even five miles away, will continue to cause significant negative issues for Lake Waramaug if we do not address them at this moment in time.

None of these initiatives can be undertaken without the continued support of our local communities. The Task Force is deeply grateful for the donors who support its efforts every year. Without the strength of this backing, Lake Waramaug would not be the exceptional resource that it is today.

On behalf of the Task Force Board, I wish you and your family a great season on what can only be described as one of the most beautiful places.

Mike Guadagno

Chair, Lake Waramaug Task Force

Task Force Fall 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends of Lake Waramaug,

There’s no getting around it — 2021 was a tough year for water clarity in Lake Waramaug. Intense summer storms produced a double-whammy effect of large amounts of rain running off the land carrying sediments and nutrients into the Lake as well as heavy winds that created a problematic mixing wave action at the surface. Together, these factors forced the cyanobacteria layer higher in the Lake — though not, fortunately, to a dangerous point — and clouded the water for extended periods. Importantly, our aerators were able to fight back, and conditions were significantly better than they might have been as a result. And on a very positive note, invasive weed populations were at their lowest levels in recent memory.

We know that weather events have been getting more intense and predictions are that trend will continue. While we are doing everything we can with our in-lake strategies — the aerators, zooplankton farm and trout stocking are all being pushed to their limits — we now need to redouble our efforts on the watershed. In the coming months and years, you’ll be hearing a lot about our work to mitigate runoff from catch basins, remediate the eroding banks of Sucker Brook and other watershed efforts.

You won’t be hearing these things from me, however. Due to term limits, I’ll be handing over the direction of the Task Force to the very capable hands of Mike Guadagno. It’s been a true joy working with the staff, board and our supporters and I know that together we’ll be able to keep the Lake in the pristine condition it’s enjoyed for the past few years.

Peary Stafford

Outgoing Chair, Lake Waramaug Task Force

Where does the Lake's water come from?

Dear Friends of Lake Waramaug — Spring 2021

Have you ever wondered where the roughly six billion gallons of water in Lake Waramaug came from? Some very pure water surely comes from underwater springs over the Lake’s approximate square mile; and there’s rain, of course, about 50 inches of relatively clear water in an average year. But the vast majority of the Lake comes from the watershed, the topography surrounding the Lake — with sixty percent of the entire Lake from Sucker Brook alone! It’s from here and other runoff that the difficulties arise; with phosphorous, sediment and nutrients of various sorts introduced by brooks, catch basin outflows, driveways and lawns all flowing into the strata of the Lake and creating the conditions that promote cyanobacteria growth.

It’s axiomatic to say that it’s way easier and more efficient to stop these elements from entering the Lake than it is to remove them once they are in, and that’s why, over the years, the Task Force has increasingly focused its efforts on the watershed:

• We’ve spent and continue to expend enormous effort and resources working with our farming friends to reduce the amount of runoff from their fields.

• We’ve remediated many spots along the various brooks feeding the Lake to reduce erosion along their banks, with many more sites to do.

• We’ve installed sediment collection basins toward the bottom of four streams to collect sediment before it gets to the Lake and have periodically excavated those basins clean, removing many hundreds of cubic yards of sediment.

• And, we’re in the process of surveying every catch basin around the Lake to identify those that are contributing pollutants to the water with the intent of finding and removing the sources of those pollutants.

These efforts, along with our in-Lake cyanobacteria and invasive weed controls, have combined to create one of the most pristine lakes in the region. The contributions of our donors have been critical to our efforts and we thank each and every one of you very much. With your continued support we’ll keep working to keep our billions of gallons of lake water clean, clear, and swimmable. Best wishes for a glorious summer!

Peary Stafford Chair, Lake Waramaug Task Force

Lake Benefits from the Work of Many

We often talk about all the work we do to care for the Lake. This work includes water quality sampling, invasive weed eradication, aerator maintenance, stormwater infrastructure mapping and the promotion of sound environmental management practices when land use changes are being proposed in the watershed. Phew! What we rarely discuss is the deep bench of environmental professionals, both staff and consultants, who spend a lot of time working to solve problems on the Lake and its watershed.

Dr. Robert Kortmann, Principal Limnologist at Ecosystem Consulting Services, has worked on the Lake since the founding of the Task Force. He installed the first prototype of our in-lake aeration system in the early 1990s, which started the Lake’s incredible turnaround and continues to play an important role in water quality improvement today. Lakes are extraordinarily complicated organisms, and Dr. Kortmann is nationally recognized for his ability to understand, interpret, and predict how lakes behave. Currently, Dr. Kortmann is taking his successful ideas and management methods developed at Lake Waramaug and applying them to drinking water reservoirs across the Northeast.

Dr. George Knoecklein, Principal Limnologist at Northeast Aquatic Research, actually used Lake Waramaug data that he collected in the 1980s as part of his PhD thesis.

His decades of experience helping to improve water quality here in Connecticut has helped us improve the Lake. Dr. Knoecklein leads our efforts to eradicate invasive aquatic weeds. His expertise in their identification and broad understanding of their life cycle and habits has enabled us to virtually eradicate invasive weeds from the Lake.

Matt Vogt of New England Aquatic has been suction-harvesting invasive weeds on the Lake for over a decade, helping us achieve our current invasive weed-free state without the use of chemicals. We are so grateful to Matt and his team of divers.

Kelsey Sudol, our Research Assistant, received her B.S. in Biology and Environmental Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and contributed to research on the human impacts on lake ecosystems. Her experience has been valuable to our efforts to improve Lake water quality.

I am a Certified Soil Scientist with an educational background in Natural Resource Management. Over the past four decades I have worked in the US and abroad on many environmental restoration and sustainable resource management projects. I have truly enjoyed the opportunity the Task Force has given me to bring everything I have learned and apply it to improving the Lake and its watershed.

As you can see, we have an extremely talented team of experts. All that brain power draws on a significant portion of our budget. Your generous support, combined with our awesome team, helps to preserve and protect our clean, clear and swimmable Lake.

Sean Hayden

LWTF Executive Director

LWTF Summer 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends of Lake Waramaug,

Our natural surroundings assume such an important place in our lives at times like these, reminding us that there is actually order in this newly chaotic and unpredictable world. Prime among them is the Lake; our beautiful Lake Waramaug. We swim in it, boat on it, walk, run and cycle around it and just take it in from afar. It’s always there, permanent through all its moods; a sanctuary in difficult times.

Early data would say the Lake made it through the winter healthy and ready for the summer. But this winter was unprecedented; there was little ice cover and in general the temperature of both air and water were way above average. Now the unusually cold and dreary spring adds further uncertainty. It’s hard to tell where these events may take us.

Whatever the conditions, you may rest assured that we at the Task Force will do everything in our power to get on the water to monitor the conditions and react to what we find. How? By testing, testing, testing; then by adjusting the times that our aerators and diffusers are on, by changing the amounts and timing of the release of zooplankton from our facility on Arrow Point, and by optimizing the schedules of our biologists and divers to capture and remove invasive plants from the Lake. In the past we have enjoyed inviting interested folks to join us on our monitoring excursions; this year social distancing precautions will probably limit participation in these tours, a fact that we truly regret.

Regrettable too, is the idea that we will almost certainly have to cancel our fundraising events. While we know that there are many worthy organizations vying for your attention and contributions at this time, we also are in serious need of your generosity. There is so much work to be done and if we take our foot off the pedal now we risk beginning to revert to earlier unpleasant conditions.

Please keep us in your thoughts as you plan your charitable giving, so that we can continue our work. Our sanctuary depends upon it.

Peary Stafford

Chair, Lake Waramaug Task Force

LWTF Still Hard to Work

Shelley writes: "If winter comes, can spring be far behind?"

With that hope, we continue to watch over the health of the Lake. Here's some additional information about a few of our essential long-term projects.

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Stormwater runoff is the #1 source of water quality degrading pollution flowing into Lake Waramaug.

We're inventorying catch basins around the Lake to identify pollutant hot spots.
Click HERE to learn more!

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Soil eroding from construction sites can quickly degrade water quality in the Lake.

We're working with towns and area residents to employ strategies that can help!
Click HERE to learn more!

April 2020 Lake Waramaug Update

In these exceptional times, we appreciate the sanctuary Lake Waramaug provides more than ever.

We are reaching out today to let you know that the Task Force continues to be hard at work protecting this great resource so we all may continue to seek comfort from its stillness and power. We hope you enjoy learning more about two of our winter projects.

Be well and stay safe!

Lake Waramaug Task Force | 50 Cemetery Road | Warren, Connecticut 06754 | (860) 868-0331 | info@lakewaramaug.org