Hello Province Lake Community, 

Unfortunately, NH DES came and sampled again today and found two out of 5 locations well above the state limit.  As such, the warning stays in effect and the signs stay up.  The official notification is below.  They will be back again in a week to test again.

Regards,

The PLA

Hi All,

A cyanobacteria warning has been issued at your lake, please see below for details.

Please keep signs posted at public access points. NHDES will arrange for sampling again next week. Warning details can also be found on the Healthy Swimming Mapper. If you click on the warning symbol, you can see our most recent sampling date. When warnings are lifted, the red symbol for the waterbody will no longer be on the map. 

Please forward this email to other residents / community members who need this information. If they would like to be added to the email distribution list, please have them sign up through this form to be directly included on future communications from NHDES. If you prefer to no longer receive these sampling updates, simply respond, and indicate “unsubscribe”.

Best,

Kate Hastings and the CyanoHAB Team
Cyanobacteria Harmful Algal Bloom Program
Watershed Management Bureau, Water Division
New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services
29 Hazen Drive, P.O. Box 95, Concord, NH 03302-0095
603-848-8094   hab@des.nh.gov
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Hello Province Lake Community,

Unfortunately and as previously communicated to you, NH DES did analyze the samples they got and have issued an Advisory for the lake.  We have put the signs up and DES will be back in a week to take new samples.  The official notification is below.

Regards,

The PLA

Hi All,

A cyanobacteria warning has been issued at your lake, please see below for details.

Warnings are issued when cell counts exceed 70,000 cells/mL. NHDES advises lake users to not wade or swim in the water during a warning. Please also keep pets and livestock out. The warning is not based on a toxin evaluation and is intended as a precautionary measure for short term exposure. Please see our newly updated FAQs for more information.

NHDES will resample in a week. I will reach out to you before then for updates. If you have information on where accumulated material is being observed at that time, please let us know to guide our sampling efforts. Warnings remain active until the bloom subsides. You can also see warning details on the Health Swimming Mapper.

To the health officer or other official responsible for posting signs, please post our red cyanobacteria warning signs at all public access points. Please let me know if you do not have any to post or if you need replacements.

Please forward this email to other residents / community members who need this information. If they would like to be added to the email distribution list, please have them sign up to be directly included on future communications from NHDES. If you prefer to no longer receive these sampling updates, simply respond, and indicate “unsubscribe”.

Best,

Kate Hastings and the CyanoHAB Team
Cyanobacteria Harmful Algal Bloom Program
Watershed Management Bureau, Water Division
New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services
29 Hazen Drive, P.O. Box 95, Concord, NH 03302-0095
603-848-8094   hab@des.nh.gov

Hi Province Lake Community,

Unfortunately, several blooms have been observed around the lake over the last couple days, including this morning.  This has been reported to NH DES and they are analyzing the samples to determine if the signs need to go up or not.  We just wanted to get the message out that blooms have been observed and that we all should remain vigilant.  Attached is a picture from this morning. 

Once we hear more from NH DES, we will communicate that to you.  Again, if you see something like the picture attached, stay out and especially keep children and pets out.

Regards,

The PLA

Hello PLA Community,

We have received some not very welcome news from the Loon Preservation Committee regarding the testing that was performed on the unhatched, abandoned egg collected from Bella Island last year.  The egg was found to have a high level of PCBs.  The manufacture of PCBs was banned in 1979 because of health issues associated with exposure but the hazardous contaminants are still found in air, water, soil and sediment today.  Once again this is not a problem that is specific to Province Lake but something that is present in all of our lakes.  Once these contaminants are in our environment there is very little that breaks them down.  The contaminants found in the eggs are one data point and would have come primarily from the fish they were eating in the weeks preceding egg-laying.  Please consider this when considering consuming fish caught from Province Lake.  Eating fish from any lake or pond in NH has not been advised for many years due to concerns related to mercury content.  We will be working with DES and the Loon Preservation Committee to get  some of our fish tested to give us specifics related to the types and levels of contaminants.  

One bright spot is that last year we also had a successful hatch of a loon that was able to mature and successfully leave Province Lake in the fall.  That had not happened in many years and speaks somewhat to the fact that our lake is healthy enough to support loons. At this time there are at least two loons on the lake and we have put out the floating nest.  Maybe they will decide to use the island again?  Whatever they choose we will all do what we can to support them.  Hopefully we will have good news on that front soon.

The information provided to us can be viewed at by clicking here …. Loon Egg

Thanks,

Jim Aiken
Province Lake Association

Hi All,

Summer is coming and the PLA is looking for a few volunteers who can assist us by providing a pontoon/party boat for our water sampling program this coming summer.

This program is run in conjunction with UNH and the NH Lay Lakes program. We have trained and equipped personnel but need boats and drivers to do the sampling. The sampling typically takes 1-2 hours and starts at 9am. There are usually 2-3 people joining (an expert water quality personnel from UNH, potentially a UNH intern, and a water sampling volunteer from the PLA). The dates of sampling are:

     Monday, May 13
     Monday, June 3
     Monday, July 8
     Monday, August 5
     Monday, September 9

You can express your interest, any dates you could volunteer, and provide contact information (email & phone#) to Katie Jones at kjones@provincelake.org. We will follow up with more specific information. 

This is a great excuse for spending a morning on the lake while helping to keep it healthy and learn about water quality!

Thank you.  
The PLA

Hello PLA Community,

I wanted to send out a quick note regarding this bill as I have seen some concerned emails from membership that this bill if approved would prohibit all towables in small and shallow bodies of water.  This legislation targets specifically wake sports and the specific boats associated with that activity.  Wakesports are sports that involve using a surfboard, wakeboard, hydrofoil, or similar device to ride on or in a wake directly behind a wakeboat with or without a rope.

The Province Lake Association supports HP1390.  As you know Province Lake is very shallow and has been unfortunately experiencing .devastating blooms of cyanobacteria over the past few summers.  All boats stir up sediment, phosphorus but wakeboats are particularly destructive.  

I hope this information clarifies the intent of HB1390 and explain why the Province Lake Association supports it.  Reducing nutrients will be a recurring theme in our email broadcasts. 

Thanks,

Jim Aiken 
Province Lake Association

What is wake surfing?
It is surfing on a massive boat wake, close behind the boat, without using a rope. It needs to be done in deep, large lakes to avoid damage. The waves can be 3 to 5 feet high. Note that the type of boat used to make these waves is totally different from a ski boat. Wake surfing boats plow the water at about 10 mph, unlike waterskiing boats, which ride on a plane to avoid big wakes.

Why is wake surfing harmful?
The massive wakes can capsize canoes, kayaks, stand up paddle boards, other boats and water skiers. While surfing, the bow of the boat is so high it can be hard for the driver to see a boat in front of them; this is clearly dangerous. The high wakes can crash against shorelines, damaging docks and moored boats. When surfing, the propeller can be 4’ deep and at a downward angle. The propeller wash can stir up sediment, and damage or uproot vegetation, impacting the lakebed greater than 20’ deep. When sediment is stirred up, many species including loons are unable to locate their food sources. We love our loons. Loons’ eggs are inches above the water; large wakes can wash away these eggs. Phosphorus freed from the lake bottom can fuel algae and bacteria blooms, creating fish kills and noxious odors. Extensive algae blooms in small lakes impacts home values.

What about invasive species?
Wake boats carry thousands of pounds of lake water as ballast. Numerous studies show that even after emptying the tanks, there is still an average of 8 gallons of lake water in the ballast compartments. Invasive plants and organisms can survive many days in the tanks, only to be released into the next lake. Aren’t there already laws protecting us and our lakes? Wisconsin’s hazardous wake statute 30.68 protects people and property. If wakes damage your shore, boat or dock, and you can prove which boat did it, that statute can help.

PLA Membership and Province Lake Community,

We wanted to share this video recording of the first in a series of webinar events related to the NH Cyanobacteria Plan, Statewide Strategy.  After the summer of 2023 this is obviously a topic of great interest to the PLA Board and our membership.  

There are several legislative actions related to this strategy and they are all related to the reduction of nutrient inputs into NH lakes.  There is $1,000,000 in funding for shovel-ready projects related to targeted reductions in sources of phosphorus.

An already existing PLA Cyanobacteria Subcommittee will schedule a meeting with the NH DES to go over our wish list and how we can take advantage of this available funding.

Please take time to watch this video and educate yourself on the challenges we are facing.  The sobering reality is there is no quick fix and this will be potentially a long process in which we will all need to take part.  The PLA will continue to keep you informed of any developments that come about with our subcommittee. 

Here’s the link to the webinar

https://www.youtube.com/user/NHDES

Thank you,

Jim Aiken 
Province Lake Association 

Hi All,

There are two more bills in front of the NH Legislature this coming week. The PLA Board is in support of these bills. Should you like to voice your opinion, you can do so by following the instructions from NH Lakes in the attached document at this link ….. https://provincelake.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/NH-Lakes-2-More-Lake-Concern-Bills-2024.pdf

The PLA