Petition seeks 'lake in crisis' designation for Lake Memphremagog

NEWPORT, A local conservation group is asking Vermont officials to designate Lake Memphremagog as a lake in crisis, a step that would bring additional state attention and funding to address water quality problems.

The group DUMP, Don't Undermine Memphremagog's Purity, launched a petition drive this month under a 2018 state law originally passed to address conditions in Lake Carmi. The law allows a lake in crisis designation when pollution threatens human health, wildlife or the local economy.

In a statement, DUMP pointed to cancerous lesions found in 25 to 40 percent of brown bullhead fish sampled in the lake's South Bay and Hospital Cove. A 2019 report from the U.S. Geological Survey and Vermont Fish and Wildlife linked the lesions to environmental contamination, and at a December 2020 public meeting, ANR Secretary Julie Moore acknowledged that sick fish indicate contaminated water.

The group also cited PFAS chemicals found in effluent from the Newport Wastewater Treatment Facility. A 2019 ANR sampling showed PFAS levels four times higher than the state's drinking water standard. Between 2010 and 2019, more than 34 million gallons of PFAS-laden leachate were discharged into the Clyde River, which flows into the lake, according to DUMP. A ban on leachate disposal was imposed in 2019 pending further study.

Lake Memphremagog provides drinking water for about 175,000 people in Sherbrooke, Quebec, as well as serving Vermont communities. A recent study confirmed PFAS in Sherbrooke's intake, raising international concerns.

“The question is not if, but when the cumulative environmental damage from all of these threats becomes too great to repair,” DUMP's statement reads.

A lake in crisis designation could increase eligibility for state funding to control phosphorus runoff, prevent blue-green algae blooms, and manage invasive species like Eurasian milfoil and starry stonewort.

Originally reported by Newport Dispatch.

Photo: Tom Fisk via Pexels. Photo is illustrative and not from the scene.