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Lake Colby is in trouble
Chloride levels in Lake Colby have more than doubled in the last 20
years. After the Village of Saranac Lake built a shed to house its
salt in 2010 the influence of that source subsided. The current high
levels are due almost completely to salt runoff from Route 86.
Recent studies show that road salt damages native plants but ironically Eurasian Watermilfoil thrives in high-chloride solutions, including the brackish waters of the Chesapeake area and in Florida.
The current levels of sodium and chloride in the lake violate federal standards and Lake Colby has the highest levels of these ions of any inhabited Adirondack lake.
Solution of these problems requires rapid action by the Town, Village, and Department of Transportation. We are engaged with all three.
Annual Monitoring
We were members of the CSLAP program from 1999 until 2001. In 2002
we switched to the Adirondack Lake Assessment Program run by Paul
Smith's. Paul Smith's College has been monitoring Lake Colby since
1984. Their 1984 study, the 1999 CSLAP baseline, and the
2003-2020
ALAP programs can be accessed by following these links:
- 1984 Paul Smith's study of the Lake
- 1999 CSLAP report
- 2003 ALAP report
- 2004 ALAP report
- 2005 ALAP report
- 2006 ALAP report
- 2007 ALAP report
- 2008 ALAP Report
- 2009 ALAP Report
- 2010 ALAP Report
- 2011 ALAP Report
- 2012 ALAP Report
- 2013 ALAP Report
- 2014 ALAP Report
- 2015 ALAP Report
- 2016 ALAP Report
- 2017 ALAP Report
- 2018 ALAP Report
- 2019 ALAP Report
- 2020 ALAP Report
Runnoff/Culverts
There are five culverts under Route 86 feeding runoff into the Lake from
the east. Three of these are State culverts built when the road
was constructed in the 60's. They have no buffers, silt filters,
etc. and they dump runoff directly into the Lake. The
southern-most culvert can actually create a stream across the Village of
Saranac Lake's public beach (click
to see photo). We have presented this and other evidence to the
State, Town, and Village and are lobbying them to re-work these culverts
to provide up-stream silt filters and sedimantation basins and natural
foliage buffers of phosphorus-absorbing plants (like cattails).
Adirondack Medical Center has a sedimentation basin for accumulated rainwater that captures water before it flows into the Lake. We have asked, and they have agreed, to plant natural foliage buffers like cattails in this basin.