Tips to Keep Your Lake Healthy

BCLSS offers the following tips for lake residents to keep your lake Healthy:

Yard Maintenance, Landscaping & Gardening

• Minimize the disturbance of shoreline areas by maintaining natural vegetation cover.
• Minimize high-maintenance grassed areas.
• Replant lakeside grassed areas with native vegetation.
• Do not import fine fill.
• Use paving stones instead of pavement.
• Stop or limit the use of fertilizers and pesticides.
• Do not use fertilizers in areas where the potential for water contamination is high, such as sandy soils, steep slopes, or compacted soils.
• Do not apply fertilizers or pesticides before or during rain due to the likelihood of runoff.
• Hand pull weeds rather than using herbicides.
• Use natural insecticides such as diatomaceous earth.
• Prune infested vegetation and use natural predators to keep pests in check. Pesticides can kill beneficial and desirable insects, such as lady bugs, as well as pests.
• Compost yard and kitchen waste and use it to boost your garden’s health as an alternative to chemical fertilizers.

Auto Maintenance

• Use a drop cloth if you fix problems yourself.
• Recycle used motor oil, antifreeze, and batteries.
• Use phosphate-free biodegradable products to clean your car.
• Wash your car over gravel or grassy areas, but not over sewage systems.

Onsite Sewage Systems

• Inspect your system yearly, and have the septic tank pumped every 2 to 5 years by a septic service company: Regular pumping is cheaper than having to rebuild a drain-field.
• Use phosphate-free soaps and detergents.
• Don’t put toxic chemicals (paints, varnishes, thinners, waste oils, photographic solutions, or pesticides) down the drain because they can kill the bacteria at work in your onsite sewage system and can contaminate water bodies.
• Conserve water: run the washing machine and dishwasher only when full and use only low-flow showerheads and toilets.

Boating

• Do not throw trash overboard or use lakes or other waterbodies as toilets.
• Use biodegradable, phosphate-free cleaners in-stead of harmful chemicals.
• Conduct major maintenance chores on land.
• Use absorbent bilge pads to soak up minor leaks or
• Check for and remove all aquatic plant fragments from boats and trailers before entering or leaving a lake.
• Do not use metal drums in dock construction. They rust, sink and become unwanted debris. Use Styrofoam or washed plastic barrel floats. All floats should be labeled with the owner’s name, phone number and confirmation that barrels have been properly emptied and washed.