Weeds causing problem at Silver Lake

• It's never been this bad, said a local boater, distressed at the grass and weeds clogging his boat's propeller as he tried to enjoy an afternoon on Silver Lake last week. But an environmental analyst for the state said the lake is in good shape and offered reassurances that more progress is underway.
• "You won't be able to boat here soon," said Vincent Durante, a longtime boater at Silver Lake. He pointed to heaps of long grass and pulpy weeds covering his boat trailer. He was concerned that the coarse grass, like that tangling his propeller would eventually get though the strainer and into the motor, damaging it. "It's gone from bad to worse — all because of the weeds," he said of the lake.
• Chuck Lee is an environmental analyst with the Lakes Management Program, Bureau of Water Management, at the state's Department of Environmental Protection. He explained what's happening at Silver Lake from his perspective.
• "There's been an ongoing dredging project at Silver Lake," he said. Three phases have been completed and there are two more to go. The $5.5 million project originated with the legislature in the 1980s. The plan was to make more fresh water recreation available to the public in this densely populated area of the state.
• Lee said he gets out on Silver Lake enough to know its status in terms of aquatic vegetation and overall quality. "It was never a deep lake to begin with," he said. There have not been any complaints about Silver Lake reported to his office this year.
• According to state fisheries' document "A Fishery Survey of the Lakes and Ponds of Connecticut," Silver Lake was once known as "Peat Works Pond." Spanning land in Berlin and Meriden, the 151 acre "impoundment" is artificial in origin and fed by bottom springs. The dam that creates the lake is of earthen and masonry construction. The average depth of the lake is 4 1\2 feet and it has a maximum depth of 12 feet. The bottom is "mostly mud and swampy ooze, except in the shallow shoreline area where it is of course gravel.''
• At one time, people harvested peat and ice from the site, Lee said. Because of its "peaty" bottom it is a natural environment for aquatic vegetation.
• Lee noted that in the 1950s herbicides were used to control aquatic vegetation. While the treatments were deemed successful, it was necessary to repeat applications year after year.
• "Dense beds of submerged vegetation covered the entire bottom of the pond prior to 1952," according to the fishery survey report. An "experimental weed killer" was used. Vegetation was reduced enough to not be a nuisance to fishing. However, following treatment, the decaying plants led to "a dense algae bloom" that reduced the lake's transparency to less than two feet.
• Now, a better approach is underway, he said. A barge, in the middle of the lake, dredges vegetation hydraulically. The vegetation is then processed and conveyed through a pipeline ending in two large basins located on the access road to the public boat landing. The discharge looks like "muddy water." The size of the basins — these cover about 20 acres — determines how much vegetation can be dredged. Approximately one-fifth of the lake's vegetation can be handled at once.
• The dredging project began in 1995.
• Silver Lake "used to be choked with aquatic vegetation this time of year," Lee said. "It's never really clear. There are pockets of vegetation here and there." This can be good for fish habitat, he noted.
• However, "more parts are clearer" since the dredging began, Lee said. The work began on the Berlin side and is making its way to Meriden. In some places, where the dredging has taken place, there is some re-growth of vegetation, he said. In addition, not all the vegetation was cleared out to begin with; some was left for habitat.
• While a heavy ring of weedy growth is obvious around the perimeter of the lake, Lee said that can't be helped as the dredging can't go to the shoreline.
• "I've seen the lake begin to improve," Lee said. Out in the open water "we've been successful from what I've seen." He said more people are using the boat launch than in previously.
• "There is not only more use, but more development," Lee said, adding, people are building more houses at the lake because the water is more desirable.