>Officials: Water clearer, if you take the time to look
Friday, July 31, 2009
BY MICHAEL SEDON
The Ridgewood News
STAFF WRITER
https://www.northjersey.com/recreation/news/52134442.html
Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation Nancy Bigos explained some of the measures the village has taken to clarify the water and chase away the Canadian geese at Graydon Pool.
Bigos and Parks and Recreation Director Tim Cronin attended a two-day workshop at Rutgers University two years ago that dealt with the importance of aeration as it pertains to lake management and water quality. That workshop resulted in the addition of an aerator this year under the “T” dock; a second aerator will be added next year.
According to www.aqualinkinc.com, pond aeration increases water clarity and reduces algae, among other benefits.
Bigos said the water circulation and addition of oxygen move the “water column,” which prevents water from layering, leaving warmer water on the surface and cooler water on the bottom. This circulation “prohibits aquatic plant life” from forming, she said.
Sodium hypochlorite has been used in the pool to deter algae blooms, and the lawn is no longer fertilized, which prevents nitrates from entering the water, Cronin said. A bio-organic catalyst was also introduced this year to prevent algae. Lifeguards at the pool have announced visibilities of 12 feet daily, according to parks department officials.
The village must apply for a permit each year from the Department of Environmental Protection to use small amounts of sodium hypochlorite, Bigos said.
Bigos stressed the importance of the GeesePeace protocol and Tyco Animal Control service, which uses trained border collies to “harass” the water fowl, in eliminating geese. Pool employees also place tarps on the concrete docks in Graydon at night to prevent geese from spending the night on them, Cronin said.
Bigos explained that the Tyco service employs “trained, soft-mouth dogs that the geese perceive as being a predator, and just feel so uncomfortable and so threatened that they opt to either not come back or to not stay. If you harass them [the geese] long enough, they’re uncertain that this is an unsafe place for them to roost or to raise their young.”
The pool water is tested once a week by Garden State Laboratories Inc., and the information is posted outside the lifeguard station at the pool. Graydon is considered a pond; therefore, the fecal coliform count is allowed to be as high as 200 parts per million (ppm), but test results show the count at Graydon is less than 10 ppm. The test results for this week also showed that the pH level is 7.8, and there is no chlorine in the water, Bigos said.
“The quality of the water has never been better at Graydon,” she said, “but unless they [the residents] experience it, how do they know?”
E-mail: sedon@northjersey.com
