http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/06/26/panel_rejects_herbicide_for_morses_pond/
Boston Globe
June 26, 2005
Panel rejects herbicide for Morses Pond
By Lisa Keen, Globe Correspondent
Will Wellesley's next generation know it as Morses Pond or
Morses Marsh?
That's the multimillion-dollar question the town faces now
that it has removed the cheapest solution -- herbicide -- from
its arsenal of weapons to battle the weeds that have invaded
the 103-acre pond.
Wellesley has been struggling for 40 years to figure out a
way to prevent weeds, algae, and sediment from destroying the
pond, which was created with small dams only a century ago.
''When all the hot air has been dissipated, we still have only
two options: fluridone and dredging," said resident Arnold
Reif at a public hearing June 16.
Following that hearing, which drew a
large number of residents opposed to the use of herbicides in
the town's primary source of drinking water,
the Wellesley Natural Resources Commission voted 4 to 1 against
relaxing its policy to allow the consideration of fluridone.
The cost of completely dredging the lake has been estimated
at more than $5 million. That's an expense that may not sit
well with voters, who last month rejected a tax hike to spend
$470,000 to teach Spanish to elementary school students and
$66,000 to maintain two branch libraries.
''Before we spend millions of dollars, I think we need to ask
whether this is the best way to spend that money in terms of
cost-benefit analysis," Sean Milano said at the June 16
hearing. ''It's a lot of money to benefit a small minority of
people."
Neighbors and residents who go to Morses Pond for recreation
are distraught over how quickly weeds are taking over the lake,
making it impossible for sailing, difficult for paddling, and
unpleasant if not dangerous for swimming.]
''Someone has to speak up for the pond," said Christina
Medici, who added that she and like-minded neighbors feel they
are not only advocates for themselves but also custodians of
the pond.
''We see blue herons that come there, the three families of
muskrats, the buildup of mussel shells, the swans, and so much,"
said Medici. She said ''an affluent community" should spend
the money ''to take care of something so wonderful."
Fluridone would have cost only about $400,000 over the course
of 20 years. But speakers at the June
16 hearing overwhelmingly opposed taking a chance on the herbicide,
even though it has been approved for use in drinking water sources
at concentrations much higher than Wellesley was likely to need.
Reif, a former president of the Boston Cancer Research Association,
led the charge against the chemical.
While acknowledging ''there's no evidence that I know of that
fluridone causes cancer," he noted that federal agencies
''continually update their limits on all substances." He
said there was only about 10 years' worth of data on fluridone.
Fluridone and two other herbicides are used, with state approval,
to treat the 35-acre Nonesuch Pond in Weston. The swimming and
boating pond was restored from being a ''meadow," says
Jean Estes, a member of the Nonesuch Pond Improvement Association,
which has been active in cleanup efforts. The chemical treatments
are paid for by the private Rivers School, which uses the pond
for its summer camp.
If no action is taken, Ken Wagner, Wellesley's environmental
consultant, the north basin of Morses Pond could become wetlands
within 20 years.
That would not pose a threat to the town's water supply, according
to Joe Duggan, superintendent for Wellesley Water and Sewer.
Duggan said the town doesn't get its water directly from the
pond, but from wells drilled underneath it. Morses Pond could
become a meadow and still provide drinking water, he said, pointing
to the example of Rosemary Meadow, another source of town water.
If the pond does become wetlands -- which vary from swamps
and marshes to bogs and fens -- federal and state regulations
would make it more difficult to reclaim areas for swimming and
boating.
When the Morses Pond Ad Hoc Committee meets tomorrow, it will
give Wagner his marching orders for developing recommendations
for the pond. Wagner is expected to report back in August, after
which another round of public hearings will be held. A final
proposal for the pond could go before Town Meeting next spring.
For the budget year that ends Thursday, the Recreation Department
will have spent $42,000 for biological treatment and monitoring
of the pond. The town's Department of Public Works has been
spending $20,000 to $25,000 a year to harvest the weeds and
do other cleanup work around the swimming beach, says its director,
Michael Pakstis. But the town's harvesting equipment has outlived
its usefulness.
Even if the town bought a new machine at an estimated cost
of $250,000 and assigned two employees to operate it full time,
the weeds could still end up winning the war, Wagner said.
In the long run, the consultant said, the town's best chance
of saving the pond will involve a combination of techniques
along with a campaign to persuade residents to curtail use of
fertilizers and other materials that contain phosphorus.
Through runoff, the treatments used to beautify lawns wind
up promoting ugly growth in the pond, he said.
The Morses Pond Ad Hoc Committee will meet at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow
in the Department of Public Works Administrative Building at
455 Worcester St.
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