Community Corner

Lakeside Homeowner, Neighbors Move Forward with Herbicide Treatment

After a brief, last minute postponement, the herbicide treatment on several residents' aquatic properties on the Lower Moodus Reservoir is now scheduled to move forward again early next week.

At Wednesday night's Board of Selectmen meeting, residents and town officials discussed a planned herbicide treatment in the Lower Moodus Reservoir. The treatment was originally planned for Thursday, July 18, but was postponed at the last minute after a petition and letters were sent to the DEEP and other government officials in opposition to the treatment, and the topic was added to the Board of Selectmen agenda.

First Selectman Mark Walter lead the discussion at the meeting, which was attended by residents, Senator Art Linares, Rep. Melissa Ziobron, Greg Bugbee of the CT Agricultural Experiment Station, Sam Guy, President of the Moodus Reservoir Preservation Group (MRPG), and the homeowner who received the permit, Robert Falletti, and several of his neighbors.

Walter made it clear from the start of the meeting that the town legally has no jurisdiction over the lake and the treatment. Since Falletti and his neighbors received the appropriate and needed permits, they legally could proceed with the treatment at their discretion.

"Anything that goes into that body of water is the jurisdiction of the state of CT," Walter explained. "They have scientists on staff that have the education to process these applications. This is a state process, not a town process. The town does not have the power to overturn state permits."

What Walter did advocate for was more public education on preserving the lakes in town. Rep. Ziobron agreed that the process should be looked at. 

"What I would like to suggest is a public meeting to address issues like this, to vet the process," Walter stated. "There needs to be more public education and strong lake associations to work towards making a comprehensive plan to move forward with handling weed control. This is a safe way to go because the herbicide dilutes quickly, I think you can drink the water 15 minutes after the application, and this will be professionally applied."

"Lake Bashan and Lake Hayward have both been executing aggressive weed control programs over the last decade, and if we don't start address the reservoir, we are going to run into some issues with being able to use it," he continued.

That is the reason, Falletti stated, that he and his neighbors decided to take action to obtain the permit for the herbicide treatment.

"We cannot even use the water by our homes because of the lily pad invasion," Falletti stated at the meeting. "Not for swimming, not for boating. We pay taxes to be on a lake that we cannot even use."

One of Falletti's neighbor's, who had worked with him towards obtaining the permit, expressed similar concerns (see video).

Matt Rockwell, who started the online petition, responded to the comments, saying, "I’m not opposed to treating it at all, but think that other treatments can be used."

It was decided that an August , a MRPG meeting was scheduled to develop a plan to address weed control in the lake. Falletti and neighbors did decide to move forward with their plans for the herbicide treatment. They were concerned about missing the window of opportunity to administer the treatment, as well as losing the money invested in the application, if they waited until the August meeting.

"I have a signed, sealed permit from the state of CT," Falletti said. "Why can't I move forward with that? I would love to see hundreds of people at this August meeting interested in saving this lake. But for now, we're legal, we have the right to do it, we have about $3,000 tied up in this project, I'd like to move forward."

Falletti said he would be back in touch with Lycott Environmental Inc. early next week to move the process forward again.


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