Making a request of the lakeside community, Candlewood Lake Authority (CLA) members have asked residents to “rake away from the lake this fall.”

A recent announcement from CLA states: “While the vast majority of waterfront homeowners are responsible and very careful to not let their leaves enter the lake, every year we see tell-tale evidence of leaves having been dumped.” The e-mail states: “Leaves that enter the lake turn into a source of nutrients that can increase algae and weeds, accelerate the natural ‘filling in’ process of a lake and how quickly the lake ages, and deplete the lake of necessary oxygen as the leaves decompose.”

Lake Zoar Authority members support the CLA, said member Gary Fillion.

“Word needs to get out to shoreline residents that leaves blown into the water is a problem,” he said.

The annual wash of leaves on the lake is a sore point for Mr Fillion.

“When I see the lake covered in leaves, I know it’s not Mother Nature, I know it’s people blowing leaves in,” he said. The lake, he added, is “not a dumpster.”

Mr Fillion has heard people say that leaves are natural, let Mother Nature handle it, “But we need to be better stewards with concerns for the ecology” of too many leaves in the water. 

Mr Fillion received the recent CLA announcement and has been “trying to get the word out.” He ex-pressed frustration with enforcement, saying, “The problem is the town has no official stance and no one is penalized.” With “nothing on the books” to prevent residents from dumping leaves into the lake, he said,  “there are no teeth” to any rules against it.

Deputy Director of Planning and Land Use Rob Sibley said that the CLA notice appeared to be a courtesy request, and regarding enforcement actions, he said if residents are doing something that impacts the watercourses or wetlands, the Inland-Wetlands regulations can be applied. 

Mr Sibley agreed with the “elementary science” of the statements in the Candlewood Lake Authority announcement.

Regarding leaf dumping in streams and rivers, or the lakes, Conservation Commission Chair Ann Astarita said the problem with dumping leaves in streams is that it “clogs the habitat for fish and the benthic macroinvertebrates that live in the streams.”

She added, “The physical barrier created can change the stream bank and makes it difficult for amphibians to access and exit the water.” Decaying organic matter also adds nutrients to the water, and in higher levels, the nutrients “encourage bacteria and algae to grow and eventually die,” which “uses up” oxygen in the water, she said. The result? “It’s harder for fish and benthics to breathe.”

Other stressors include thermal effects from higher rainwater temperatures running off rooftops, roads, and other impermeable surfaces, discharges of silt, salt, or gas/oil from roads and driveways, Ms Astarita said.

She added that “there tend to be byproducts of organic die-off that aren’t very tasty” in the water, and “some types of algae can even be toxic; and they can be harmful for mammals or birds to ingest.”  Ms Astarita said, “It’s best to keep rivers and streams clean.”