FYI: Baboosic Lake Beach Closed (Hollis, Jaffrey: safe, money, areas)

[NH2008]

Ecoli in the water. Wish we had heard before driving over ...

[GraniteStater]

This has been a big problem in many lakes this year. I wonder why?

[BF66389]

Has it mainly shown up since the heat began?

If so my guess is three fold:
1) Increased usage
2) Bacteria replicates faster in warmer water (most of it)
3) Higher temps = greater water usage = greater outflow from leaky septics

[NH2008]

A lot of the lakes in southern NH are really built-up and I bet a lot of the septic systems are grandfathered in closer than is considered safe these days...

Silver Lake was swim at your own risk for a while too but it did ok on the tests.

[GraniteStater]

Silver Lake up in Madison?
I am familiar with that area.

[NH2008]

Silver Lake in Hollis.

Totally anecdotally, it seems like the lakes further north are deeper and maybe cleaner?

[lisa g]

imo, Silver Lake in Hollis has been 'swim at your own risk' for a long time now. It is disgusting, but then I have no desire to swim in a small crowded lake which has become a trash dump.

Yesterday Nicole posted a WMUR link in the thread about e coli in Jaffrey & Rindge's water supply which listed lakes which tested positive for bacteria like e coli, etc. Baboosic was on the list.

[BF66389]

Originally Posted by NH2008

Silver Lake in Hollis.

Totally anecdotally, it seems like the lakes further north are deeper and maybe cleaner?

Size, Usage, and Development... They are bigger, less used, and less developed.

Originally Posted by lisa g

imo, Silver Lake in Hollis has been 'swim at your own risk' for a long time now. It is disgusting, but then I have no desire to swim in a small crowded lake which has become a trash dump.

Perhaps we should organize a cleanup to keep it from being a trash dump. I regularly cleanup some of the small wetlands along my daily walking trips and its very worthwhile; in those areas its not the people who are generally making the mess- but critters who have ripped into garbage and walked away with something (another case for storing trash in a pest-proof way).

[NH2008]

Originally Posted by BF66389

Perhaps we should organize a cleanup to keep it from being a trash dump. I regularly cleanup some of the small wetlands along my daily walking trips and its very worthwhile; in those areas its not the people who are generally making the mess- but critters who have ripped into garbage and walked away with something (another case for storing trash in a pest-proof way).

Unfortunately, at Silver Lake it is the people using it who are ruining it. There are way too many people and they litter. A man pulled a big piece of broken glass out of the wading area yesterday. It doesn't belong to the town, so I guess there is no incentive to spend local time or money keeping it up, and beachgoers don't seem to be from Hollis so they aren't invested in keeping it nice. It's such a shame.

[lisa g]

NH2008, you are 100% correct. And BF, good for you cleaning up trash.