Save The Lakes: The Other Side of the Story

Several newspaper articles, like a front page story from the July 19th, 2008 Providence Journal, have presented a one-sided view of efforts to control milfoil on Smith and Sayles reservoir (aka Sand Dam Pond). The 7/19/08 article quotes the president of the Sand Dam Reservoir Association (SDRA) as claiming “the lake was useless” in reference to the summer of 2007.

During that summer, my family used the lake almost every day for swimming, fishing, kayaking, and canoeing. Sometimes the milfoil was thick, and my husband and I would rake it out to clear the area for swimming. But overall we had a lovely summer enjoying the lake. Little did we know that it would be our last summer to enjoy our beautiful lake.

On June 11, 2008, the SDRA dropped more than 10,000 pounds of the herbicide Navigate 2,4 Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid into our lake. According to the Sierra Club “Despite industry efforts claiming the safety of this chemical, there is a large body of evidence indicating major health effects, from cancer to immunosupression, reproductive damage to neurotoxicity.”

The Sierra Club report can be obtained from http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/programs/health-environment/pesticides/2-4-D-overview.pdf.

Another source detailing the risks of this chemical can be found at:http://www.beyondpesticides.org/pesticides/factsheets/2,4-D.pdf

In November of 2008, the Natural Resources Defense Council petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to ban 2, 4-D based on evidence of its neurotoxicity, link to cancers (especially non-Hodgkin's lymphoma), and negative health effects on many species (sadly, it is expecially toxic to dogs). Despite protests from concerned lake residents, the SDRA has arranged for the lake to be treated repeatedly (September 11th, 2008; July 22nd, 2009, with plans to treat in 2010 & 2011 as well).

DEM has binders of information documenting that 2, 4-D is not effective at eradicating milfoil (though sadly, it does seem to be effective at eradicating bullfrogs. Prior to the 2008 treatment, a bullfrog chorus sang me to sleep every night in the spring and summer. Since the treatment, I’m lucky to hear a lone bullfrog every now and then).

Since I am unwilling to expose my family to the risks of 2, 4-D, we can no longer swim, boat or fish on our lake.It is my hope that the efforts of groups like the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council will eventually lead to a 2, 4-D ban. However, the leadership of Sand Dam Reservoir Association has now established an organization called Save the Lakes. The STL agenda includes treating 49 RI ponds and lakes with this toxic chemical.

Even if the repeated, wide-spread use of the chemical could eradicate milfoil (which it can’t), would it be worth the cost to human and ecosystem health? Will we be left with weed-free toxic soup lakes and ponds, great for powerboats and jet skis but deadly for wildlife? Any federal ban on 2, 4-D may come too late to protect RI lakes from the misguided efforts of the Save the Lakes group.

I urge readers to work to protect our lakes and ponds from this toxic chemical. Contact Save the Lakes at stlri.org and urge them to adopt a more sustainable approach to milfoil management.