Fall 2011

My name is Dave Sajewski and I have lived on Lake Somerset for 15 years. I have been married to Patty for 47 wonderful years and we are very proud parents of 3 children and grandparents of 6.

I am retired and interested in the quality of our lake, so I agreed to fill the Water Quality Director position this past April. This is my first season to do this, so it has been a huge learning experience, but I am thankful for all the help I receive from my Committee members and our Lake Watch Group.

I am also proud to report that we have established a new communication process with our vendors, before & after each herbicide application, which has resulted in significant improvement of the control of our "nuisance" weeds (starry stonewort, eurasian milfoil & wild celery) in and around the boating lane around our lake. The DEQ requires permits each application and has very strict guidelines for what the herbicide applicator can do in order to assure that we do not do damage to the "good" weeds required to be protected for a healthy lake ecosystem and continued awesome fishing. For example, we may only apply in up to 5 feet of water, and not within 300 feet of the spillovers without amendments from the DEQ. We had one amendment this year to go deeper for the wild celery, and plan to do more around the parks next year.

An overview of the actions taken this season include the following:

LSPOA Water Quality Committee was formed in April
Special LSPOA Membership Meeting held 4/19 with our Aqua Weed Herbicide Applicator and Kieser Water Quality and Plant Management vendors
Lake Watch Group was formed to monitor conditions before and after herbicide treatments and for harvester scheduling
2011 Herbicide Treatment Dates were 4/25-5/10, 6/6-8, 7/6-12, 8/4
New Aquatic Weed Pick-Up Procedure & Schedule was launched with the Pontoon boat on Fridays
Tips on How to Maintain Good Quality Water:
a) Fertilize with phosphorous free fertilizer,
b) Pump out septic tanks every 5 years, and
c) Keep fire pits at least 20' from waters edge

If you have any questions, or would like to become a member of our LSPOA Lake Watch Group, please send me an e-mail at pattys1@frontiernet.net

Thanks,

Dave Sajewski

Upcoming Events

Special Water Quality Meeting
Wednesday, April 11

Garage Sale
Saturday, June 23

Boat Parade
Wednesday, July 4

Annual Picnic
Saturday, July 14
(Rain Date July 15)

Couples Golf Outing
August (Date TBD)

Lake Studies

Kieser & Associates

Vegetation Report -- The Board requested assistance from Kieser & Associates for aquatic vegetation management. The report dated September 30, 2011 is below.

Available as a
Adobe PDF file (12.8MB).

Water Quality Report -- The Lake Somerset Property Owners Association (LSPOA) authorized Kieser & Associates, LLC (K&A) to conduct limited water quality sampling, data analysis and reporting on Lake Somerset for 2011.

Available as a
Adobe PDF file (3MB).

Aquatic Plant Management -- The Board requested assistance from Kieser & Associates for aquatic plant management. The report dated October 5, 2007 is below.

Available as a
Adobe PDF file.

Lake Study -- In the fall of 2004 the Board hired Kieser & Associates to do a lake study, the main purpose of the study was to evaluate Lake Somerset's water quality conditions and make best management recommendations.

On March 18, 2006 at our regular monthly meeting, Mark Kieser presented the board a copy of the study and gave a summary of their findings. In the spring of 2006 the firm Kieser & Associates, presented their Lake Study report to the board.

The report is summarized here.

Water Quality Investigators -- UPDATED January 2011
Wallace E. Fusilier, Ph.D has furnished LSPOA with his updated 1992-2010 Water Quality Studies.

Available as a
Microsoft Word document
or an
Adobe PDF file.

Somerset Township Lakes Study -- Progressive AE
In September of 2005, Somerset Township retained Progressive AE to conduct a study of five lakes within the township. The primary objectives of the study were to evaluate baseline water quality conditions in each of the lakes and the impact of septic systems.

In October 2006 Progressive AE furnished the results of their study in the following report.

Available as a
Adobe PDF file.