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Morris residents urged to curb lawn fertilizer use

BY MICHAEL DAIGLE
DAILY RECORD

PARSIPPANY -- Lake Parsippany, a 155-acre lake surrounded by homes whose residents enjoy fishing and sailing, and 2,686-acre Lake Hopatcong, the state's largest inland lake that is home to a thriving recreational and residential community in four towns, share a microscopic problem that has become a major headache.

Algae

In both lakes, algal and water plant growth are fueled by nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus that wash into the water with runoff from roads and lawns.

It was easy for Mary Purzycki of Lake Parsippany to identify the biggest problem facing the lake, and some solutions. She has worked for 35 years to encourage residents to end habits that harm the lake.

"We can do the little things,"she said, which is why the lake association has been urging residents to begin using low-phosphorous fertilizer on their lawns.

In a recent newsletter, Purzycki wrote, "It is very important not to over-fertilize your laws and gardens. The ground can only absorb so much. The extra nutrients enter into the lake when it rains through the storm drain system."

Three years ago, in an effort to slow the annual growth of the at times smothering plant life, the lake's property owners association started treating the water with Aqua Blue, a colorant that blocks sunlight from reaching the lower levels of the pond, inhibiting algae growth, she said. A recent lake study by the Whippany River Watershed Action Committee showed that five of Morris County's lakes studied had some level of algal growth. At Lake Hopatcong, the nutrients fuel not only algal growth, but also weeds that require annual season harvesting.

Constant battles

Purzycki, a former president of the Lake Parsippany Property Owners Association, helped with the lake study conducted over the past three years. She said the association won a battle with the state over flushing Route 80 runoff into the lake, but the battle against the algae and lake pollution is a constant one.

While the fight against lake pollution at Lake Parsippany affects the enjoyment of the neighborhood's residents, the stakes and efforts at Lake Hopatcong are much larger. The lake community measures 65,000 residents in four towns -- Jefferson, Roxbury, Mount Arlington and Hopatcong -- in Morris and Sussex counties. The lake draws 500,000 annual visitors and generates $180 million in annual tax revenue.

The response also has been larger -- key state and federal grants to purchase weed harvesters and begin programs to reduce the amount of phosphorus entering the lake, multi-million sewer installations in Hopatcong and Mount Arlington, and local ordinances requiring the use of "lake-friendly," low-phosphorus fertilizers.

On Monday, the Lake Hopatcong Commission, a state-funded organization that oversees the lake, will acknowledge the efforts of several local hardware stores and garden centers which agreed to sell low-phosphorous fertilizer, said Mount Arlington Mayor Art Ondish, who is chairman of the lake commission. The meeting will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the Mount Arlington Municipal Building, 419 Howard Boulevard.

Hopatcong Mayor Richard Hodson said that, while the ordinances are the law, it requires residents to agree to follow them to make the program work. After an uncertain start, he said, it seems clear that residents are responding, especially after William Clark of the lake commission and Sam Hogan, Hopatcong's environmental officer, began a campaign last year to sign up stores to carry low-phosphorous fertilizer.

"It's been a successful effort," he said. "It's a matter of changing habits."

Lake Musconetcong

Lake Hopatcong is not the only lake that will benefit from the clean up effort, Hodson said. Lake Hopatcong empties into Lake Musconetcong, a smaller and shallower lake that has been troubled by severe algal growth for many years, he said. Sending less phosphorous to the smaller lake could help it recover, he said.

Carl Johnson, day manager at Hopatcong Hardware, has seen the growing popularity of the low-phosphorous fertilizer. Three years ago, he said, he nearly took it off the shelf because it was not selling. People would say they bought it at Home Depot, Johnson said. With the local ordinances in place, that has changed, he said.

He understands the consequences.

"If the lake dies, this all goes away," he said. "There are a lot of jobs here."

Bill Murray, an employee at Station Hardware in the Landing section of Roxbury, said the low-phosphorous fertilizer arrived last week and has been selling well. His boss, Jeff Feldman, said he had heard no complaints about the product.

Hodson said the effort to get homeowners to change fertilizers is supported by larger, costlier efforts that come from state and federal grants.

A 2005 state grant for $844,500 will fund stormwater management structures that will help trap more phosphorous before it reaches the lake and education programs to heighten awareness of the problem, he said.

Ondish said the next phase, funded with a $745,000 federal grant, will include the installation of a peat moss filter in an existing septic system at a Jefferson daycare to greatly enhance the ability of the system to filter out pollutants.

A summary of the project by Princeton Hydro, the lake commission's consultant, concluded that 52 percent of the phosphorous enters Lake Hopatcong from septic systems. The grant will focus on projects in Hopatcong and Jefferson, which must generate 90 percent of the phosphorous reduction to meet the state's requirements.

Pilot program

Key new structures to be installed are two subsurface sand filters in Mount Arlington and Jefferson, and the conversion or expansion of an existing detention basis in Roxbury.

Jefferson was selected for pilot program for peat moss filters installed on septic systems because the township accounts for 58 percent of the phosphorous entering Lake Hopatcong, the report said. The largest portion of that load comes from septic systems, it said.

The pilot program will be installed at a daycare center that is expanding operations and has an 18-year-old septic system. A peat biofilter is a conventional septic system with a layer of peat moss through which septage flows before entering the leachfields, the report said. Such systems have shown an ability to remove bacteria, solids, nitrogen and phosphorous, the report said. While data is limited, the report said that peat filters could remove 30 to 40 percent of the phosphorous in the system.

The next step would be to try a larger scale test in the Lake Shawnee region, the report said.

The 540 homes around that lake all with septic systems, account for 7 percent of the phosphorus entering Lake Hopatcong, the report said.

Lake Shawnee also is being considered because it is within the preservation zone as defined in the Highlands preservation law, which could block the installation of future sewers.

Most of the homes in the community were built in the 1950s and while the homes were converted to year-round use, the septic systems were not upgraded, the report said.

Upgrading to a peat biofilter could substantially improve the quality of Lake Shawnee's water, and reduced the amount of phosphorous flowing to Lake Hopatcong, the report concluded.