A neighborhood association's request to continue using herbicides in a private pond sparked a terse exchange about chemical safety at a Conservation Commission meeting last night.
"So many herbicides over the years were certified to be safe and they turned out not to be safe," said Conservation Commissioner Marylin Beck. "This is a serious, continuing problem that we've had for generations in this country. ... You've got to appreciate the fact that chemicals leave problems behind that nobody in the generation that thought up the chemicals ever imagined."
Murray Bern, a Meadowbrook Road resident, represented the Neighbors of Weld Pond last night in their bid to keep up a program to kill invasive weed, namely watermilfoil and water lilly, in the pond they canoe and swim in.
The Conservation Commission issued approval five or six years ago for the group to use herbicides to kill nuisance vegetation on the floor of the 28-acre, man-made pond. The approval must be renewed every three years, said Conservation Agent Don Yonika.
Treatments take place once in late May or June, on 8 to 10 acres of the pond, and again in August or September, in the form of spot treatments on 2 to 3 acres.
The herbicides used in the program are approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, said Gerald Smith, president of Aquatic Control Technology, the company hired to conduct the weed removal.
"The one thing I've learned is that chemicals have their place," said Smith. "I've read Rachel Carson and studied her writings. She was not opposed to pesticides. She was opposed to the indiscriminate use of a broad spectrum of pesticides." When Carson wrote "Silent Spring," he said, there was no EPA. "There's always some risk in using these products. I can't deny that, no one else can here."
"If you think we're being protected by federal agencies, you and I are in complete" disagreement, said Beck. Beck suggested using alternatives means, offering the handpicking of weeds as an option.
"You're talking literally tens of thousands of stems to an acre. It's not something that could be feasibly handled" through hand picking, said Smith.
The commission decided to draft a list of conditions and take them up along with whether to approve the herbicide use at Weld Pond at their June 5 meeting. The conditions will likely include twice-yearly water quality testing of Weld Pond and the onus on Bern to encourage abutting residents to use low-phosphate laundry detergents and organic fertilizers to minimize invasive growth.
Bern emphasized that the Weld Pond Neighbors, which includes the MIT Endicott House, are pleased with the results of the invasive removal project.
"Now we can not only see through the water, we can see fish in the water," said Bern. "It's been a very successful program that abutters are willing to invest in."
Daily News staff writer Anna Kivlan can be reached at 781-433-8336 or akivlan@cnc.com.
