10/28/2026
This is the summary of the meeting on Monday, October 26th. The meeting was called to give residents a chance to discuss the possible purchase of the ultrasonic units, since we were told there was no time for a district meeting. We had a very good discussion. Hopefully, this summary serves as a starting point for having beaches open in 2027:
🚨 2027 Lake Algae Strategy: Action Plan from the Oct 26 Meeting
Following our LPCA Special Meeting on October 26, residents have agreed on a unified strategy to fix our water quality and ensure our community beaches can safely open in 2027.
The 2026 trial proved that relying only on ultrasonic technology doesn't work; all three beaches stayed closed all summer due to Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs). To prevent another lost year, we are proposing a multi-layered approach to target nutrients at stormwater inflows, protect beach swim lines, and start long-term ecological healing.
1. Our Position on Ultrasonic Units & Funding
Residents are highly skeptical of purchasing the three deployed ultrasonic units ($17,512.00 invoice) because they failed to protect our shorelines. Wind pushed the algae into shallow coves, bypassing the sonar's line-of-sight. Furthermore, rising air plumes from our 16-diffuser aeration system and heavy mid-lake green algae blooms physically blocked the ultrasonic waves.
We recommend walking away entirely unless the vendor deepens the discount to a strategic, risk-adjusted target of $10,332.80 (reflecting field wear and the fact that consultant EverBlue Lakes is out of business, leaving us with all maintenance risks). Before any vote, the Town Board must demand:
• Residual Value Assessment: Verifying actual depreciated value (baseline mechanical residual value ranges from $14,827.47 to $15,594.48).
• Price Negotiation: A deep discount to account for shoreline failure and inherited logistical risks.
2. The 2027 Lake Remediation Plan ($35,000 Budget)
We cannot repeat 2026's mistakes. We must use our $35,000 lake remediation budget for an aggressive, localized intercept strategy. Residents request immediate action on these 6 initiatives:
• Hire a Certified Lake Manager: A part-time expert or firm for technical oversight, water data tracking, and securing NYS DEC permits.
• Launch Bioaugmentation Permitting: Begin the NYS DEC review process immediately to introduce beneficial bacteria that consume organic muck. (We know nearby Mohegan Lake is still awaiting final approval, but we want our review running concurrently with 2027 plans).
• Bi-Weekly GreenClean Beach Applications: Professional applications of a peroxide-based algaecide (like GreenClean PRO) directly to the three beach zones from mid-June through late August to kill cyanobacteria on contact.
• Deploy PhosFlow Logs at 11 Inflows: Trap dissolved phosphorus using media logs at all 11 major stormwater inflows. Because this is a passive, contained system at external conduits (not an open-water chemical application), it avoids current NYS chemical bans. The Lake Manager will file for a standard NYS DEC Article 15 Protection of Waters Permit.
• Targeted Catch Basin Study: Evaluate phosphorus-reduction tech in the catch basins closest to our three beaches. The study will investigate the feasibility of Fabco FabPhos inserts, dry basket designs, hydrophobic polymers, or engineered siphoning frameworks.
• Beach Buffer & Sand Reduction Strategy: Plant native vegetative buffers around beach perimeters. This naturally filters land-based runoff and controls erosion—reducing the district's recurring costs to annually replace or reclaim washed-away beach sand.
3. How the Inflow Defenses Will Work
Large stormwater pipes currently dump high-volume runoff right into our shallow, stagnant coves, creating algae incubators. This wind-driven accumulation shows why mid-lake ultrasound failed the shorelines. Our new 3-step defense system targets this bottleneck directly, running physical filtration in tandem with immediate chemical knockdown protocols:
🔹 Step 1 (Street Level): Catch basins and inserts filter out heavy sediment near the swimming beaches.
🔹 Step 2 (Conduit Intercept): PhosFlow media logs are tethered inside the corrugated inflow pipes to trap 100% of dissolved phosphorus before it disperses.
🔹 Step 3 (Shoreline Defense): Bi-weekly GreenClean PRO applications provide an immediate knockdown of any active algal mats directly in the cove zones to keep adjacent swim lines functional.
4. Regulatory Strategy & NYS DEC Compliance
Because our plan puts filtration barriers where stormwater hits the lake, the Town must file the correct paperwork immediately to avoid regulatory penalties. Our defense strategy is built on three pillars:
• NYS DEC Article 15 Permit: We will apply for a Protection of Waters Permit to authorize anchoring and retrieving the heavy mesh PhosFlow log assemblies along the banks.
• MS4 / SPDES Stormwater Alignment: We will explicitly label this as an external, structural stormwater "Best Management Practice" (BMP) rather than an in-lake chemical treatment to speed up approval.
• The Inactivant Distinction: NYS strictly bans open-water liquid nutrient inactivants (like Alum or Lanthanum slurries). Our defense rests on the fact that PhosFlow logs are a purely physical, temporary containment system. The phosphorus-binding elements stay entirely encased in a heavy fabric matrix. The logs are completely removed and discarded at the end of the season, leaving zero chemical residue or slurry in the lake sediment.
