8/14/2019 Bare Hill Pond Pumphouse Project
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Town of Harvard
Bare Hill Pond Watershed Management CommitteePump House Dedicat
ion
September 2006
BARE HILL POND WATERSHED MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
TOWN HALLHARVARD, MA 01451
COMMITTEECHRIS ASHLEY
NICK BROWSE
JOHN FROTHINGHAM
WILLIAM JOHNSON
JEFFREYRITTERBRUCE LEICHER, CHAIR
ADVISORY COMMITTEEROBERT DONALDSON
DR. MORT MILLER
RON RICCI
PAUL VON LOESECKECHAIR, EMERITUS
September 30, 2006
William JohnsonWarren Ave.Harvard, MA 01451
Dear Bill:
On behalf of the Town and the Committee, we wish to express our
thanks for your superb leadership of the Pump House project.
Your dedication, good cheer and extraordinary support have made
this project a success and a model for volunteer support.
Sincerely Yours,
Bruce Leicher
Bare Hill Pond Deep Drawdown Pumping Project - Q&A
Thanks Bill!!!!
What is the problem we are trying toolve?
BareHillPondissuccumbingto
eutrophication---thetransformationofapondfroma
clearbodyofwatertoamarsh-likewetlandchokedwith plantgrowth. ThePond
has become highly susceptibleto invasiveweedgrowthdueto its
relativelyshallow depths , the rich
nutrients
initspeatybottom,andthecontinuinginflowofpollutantsfromitsupstreamwetland.
Thiscreatesaviciousdownwardspiralas theinvasiveweedsflourishin the
summer and then die in the fall, adding to
thebottompeat,whichsubsequentlypromotesincreasedweedinfes
tationthefollowingyear. We
arealreadyexperiencingtheresultingdeclineinwaterqualityand
impacton recreationaluse,and without timely anddramatic action
will facethe inevitableloss ofthe Pond.T h e s i tu a ti o n i s s
o c r it i ca l t h at i n 1 99 9, t heMassachusetts Department of
EnvironmentalP ro te ct io n p ut B ar e H il l P on d o n i ts l
is t o f endangered ponds, making us eligible for federal
funding.
.
Howare weaddressing the problem?
TheBare HillPond Committeehas a multi-facetedstrategyfor address
ingthe invasiveweed situation.Shorttermmeasures include
manualweedpullsand
mechanical weed harvesting in the summer to keepswimming and
boating areas clear for recreational use,and pond drawdowns during
the winter to kill exposedweeds. Long-termmeasures
includemitigation efforts
toreduceupstreampollutantsandpotentialexcavationofthenutrientbaseinthebottomofthepond.
What is the Deep Drawdown Pumping
Project?
Drawdowns areis a safeand proven
methodforcontrollinginvasiveweed growth
throughfreezinganddryingoftheexposedweedbeds. Prior to
2002,drawdownsofBareHillPondweresporadic(about10yearsapart)and had
no lastingimpact becauseth ey
were not repeated on an annual basis. Starting twoyears ago
webegan annualdrawdowns and measuredtheresults per aprotocol
established in concertwith theConservationCommissionand
MassachusettsDEP. Wehaveseen a consistent incrementalreduction
inweedsin theareas exposedto freezing and drying bythedrawdown.The
ratelimitingfactoris drawdown
depth.Thedamanddownstreamtopologylimitgravitydrawdowns to about
3.5 feet. While this has beeneffective in controlling weeds in
areasshallower than3.5feet, theweedsares tillmultiplyinginthedeeper
and
wetter areas. TheDeep Drawdown PumpingProjectwillconstructa
permanentpumpingsystemtopumpdownthewaterlevelinthePondas much
as6-8 feet,exposingand drying virtually all
theareaswhereweedsnowgrowtothe killingeffectsofwinter
drawdowns.Thesystemiscomprisedofapumpingchamberburiedin
thegroundnear thedamwithanintakepipereachingintothePondanda
dischargepipe intothe downstreamwetlands
.Controlsfortheelectricpumpwillbeenclosedina
smallshedbytheundergroundpumpchamber. Thesystemwill beturnedon
inthe falltoass is
tthegravitydrawdownthroughthedamuntilthedesiredwate r l eve l r edu
c ti o n i s ach iev ed , an d t h enperiodicallyrun
throughoutthewintertomaintainthatlevelaswinterweatheraddswatertothePond.Thepumpswillbe
turned offin earlyspringto
allowthePondtorefilltoitsnormallevel.
How is the Town paying for this?The pumping system is a pieceof
theoverall 3-year$486,000 invasiveweedmanagementprogramwearedoing
under our MADEP/EPA grant. Asshown by the chart below,
thevastmajority ofthefunding(74%)iscomingfromexternalsources
thatinclude aFederalEPA matchinggrantof$195,000, the matching
state contribution to theTownsCPCfunds, andthe
voluntarycontributionsofmoneyandlabor.
Thus,only26% of thetotalcostis beingpaidfromTown funds!!! Someof
thesecosts(7%)h ave a l ready b een p a id wi th f u nd s p r ev io
u s ly
allocated. It is proposed that the bulk of
theremainingTowncosts(15%)bepaidoutofexis tingCPCfunds,withonly
4%beingcoveredbylevel-funded operating budgets for the Pond
CommitteeandDPW. NO OVERRIDE funds being
requestedforthisproject.
TOTALProject:$486,000
TaxpayerCost:$72,500over3yrsyrs
How do we ensure the deep drawdowns have no negative
environmental
impact?
D raw d ow n s a re co nd u cted u n der th e regu lato
ryoversightof theConservationCommissionand ares ub je ct t o a n o
rd er o f c on di ti on s t o e ns ur eenvironmental protection
through monitoring of
thewatershed,itswildlife,downstreamwetlandsandthePonditself.
Wehavetestedourmonitoringcapabilityo v er th ep ast 2 y ears an d h
ave n ot o b se rved an yuntoward environmental impacts. We will
proceedslowlywith incremental depthincreases each year toassurethat
thePondandits watershedarerespected.Theresearch ondrawdownsreveals
thattheir efficacy isincrementalin nature in that they do not solve
thep rob lem in a y ear o r2 b u tth rou g h rep et i t iv eu se .B
ecau se o f o u r in cremen ta l s t ra teg y, an d th
eirincrementalimpact, it is possiblefor monitoringtoprovidea
viablemeans forprotectingthe ecosystem.
What about other options for
controlling the weed problem?Other options include long term
watershed management,application of herbicides, harvesting,
dredging, andbiologicalcontrol(e.g.weed -eating carp).
Watershedmanagementis akey partof ourlongterm strategyandwe
haveeducationandoutreachprogramsunderwayto
reducenutrientloadinginthewatershed. Inthe shortterm,
however,moreaggressiveactionis neededtostabilize thePond.
Herbicides are highly controversial and
raiseseriousenvironmentaland publichealth concerns.
Theherbicidesthatwereusedinthepastarenowbannedforthese reasons.
Current herbicideshavelower efficacyand requirerepetitive
application. Thecost estimates
forherbicide application arein therange of$2millionfora3
yearprogram.
Underwaterdredgingis anidealsolutionbutcouldcost $10to 20
million. Another potentialadvantageof the proposed pumping system,
however, isthat it can lower the water to expose shoreline areas
andthe beachfor conventional excavation techniques,making removal
of peat in these areas to be relativelystraightforwardandmuch
lesscostly.
Biologicalcontrolmayalsobecomeanoptioninfutureyears.
TheuseoffishcarpinMassachusettsisnotyetpermitted,and theywillbe
consideredif theybecomelawfulas apotential
supplementalsolution.
Do drawdowns work? Yes! The MA DEPGeneric Environmental
Impact
S tatemen t (G EIR ) fo r lake an d p o ndmanagement issuedin
2004 recommends theu se o f d r awd own sfo r o u r 2 d o min an
tinvasivespecies:fanwart andmilfoil .
Drawdownswere recommended(along withwatershed management)as
aprimary solutionin2 key independent studiesof Bare HillPond:o
WhitmanandHoward 1987o Mass.DEPTMDL 1999
r a wd o wn s h av e b e en su cc e ss ful lyemployedon
numerouslakesandponds.3examples include:o Otis Reservoiro
LakeLashaway, Brookfieldo LakeShirley,Lunenberg
r aw do wn s w or k t hr ou gh m ul t ip le
mechanismsof action:o Freezinganddrying ofrootso S h ore lin e
re sto ra t io n w ash ing o f
sedimentfromshorelinetodeeperpartsofth e p o nd redu c in g n u
tr ien ts in th edrawdown zone
o ImprovedWaterQuality increased waterturnover reduces nutrient
concentrations
o P hy si ca l d is t ur ba nc e o f p la nt
smechanicallythroughby ice
Drawdownsmakeexcavation possible:
o Atthebeacho Otherimportantshoreline areas
Formore informationorto volunteerandhelp:
Visitthe PondCommittee Table atTown Meeting.
Visit the Pond Committee website:
www.harvard.ma.us/bhpwmc.htm
Come to a Pond Committee Meeting:4
thWednesdayof eachMonth, 7:30pm,
HildrethHouse
Town of Harvard,Bare Hill Pond WatershedManagement Committee
