Adirondack Council threatens suit over salt in Lake Colby

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June 10, 2009

By KIM SMITH DEDAM The Press Republican Fri May 14, 2010, 08:05 PM EDT

SARANAC LAKE — The Adirondack Council filed notice of lawsuit Wednesday against Saranac Lake, claiming the village sand/salt pile is polluting Lake Colby.

"I know that the Adirondack Council and Lake Colby Association have been bringing the pollution to the village's attention for the last couple of years," said spokesman John Sheehan in an interview.

"We have also been raising concern with the Department of Environmental Conservation. But that hasn't seemed to work. The lake's water quality continues to get worse every year. And we don't want to see another winter pass with salt being placed in this location. We're not sure how much ecological damage has been done there already."

Litigation would compel the Environmental Protection Agency to issue an order to clean up the salt pile under the Clean Water Act.

Violation could incur fines as great as $37,500 per day. Data proving chloride pollution going back six years could mean $82 million in fines for a single violation.

"The village has two months to take some definitive action without fear of repercussions," Sheehan said.

Village Manager Marty Murphy had not seen the lawsuit as of Wednesday morning.

He said the village does not have any salt at the highway garage site on Van Buren Street right now.

The alleged point-source pollution originates in a brook that runs across village property down Colby Brook and into Lake Colby, according to Lee Keet, member of the Lake Colby Association, who has been conducting water testing on the watershed in accordance with state monitoring programs since 1999.

"The salinity, clarity and electrolytes are getting worse every year," he said Wednesday.

"The highest reading we've gotten in the brook is 719 parts per million chlorides. The pollution standard set by the Clean Water Act is 250 parts per million. And we are always over 250 now in the brook."

By comparison, the average Adirondack stream has between one and 10 parts per million chlorides, Keet said.

"Lake Colby itself has 12 parts per million now, and 15 is where you absolutely have ideal conditions for zebra mussels."

The chloride count is a threat to the entire watershed running into the Saranac River.

"The brook runs right through the village property, running eastward down Colby Brook into Lake Colby," Keet said. "It then turns west and goes into Little Colby (lake) into a river that runs into Lower Saranac Lake, which runs into the Saranac River."

Latour Park, the Saranac Lake village beach, a state boat launch, an Environmental Protection Camp run by DEC and six private properties are all situated on Lake Colby.

"Over 90-percent shoreline is public use," Keet said.

"Kids get duck itch fever down at the beach. It's not certain that it's directly related to this runoff," he said.

Lake Colby Association is not party to the lawsuit, though its ongoing water-quality research is very much the center of concern.

Murphy said the village has been looking to move the salt pile to a shared sand/salt shed.

"This is the discussion that prompted the applications for funding to build a joint sand/salt shed. What happened is the village obtained a $175,000 grant toward their portion, and the town (Harrietstown) was contemplating a bond for their portion but concluded bonding rates were too high. The town is in the process now of pursuing grants."

Bids for the new shed exceeded $700,000.

The shed would be built at a site off John Munn Road, which also abuts Lake Colby.

"The town and the village would both very much like to get our salt piles covered," Murphy said. "We could cover them with tarps, but we're looking for a more permanent solution. Neither the town nor the village has all the funding in place. It certainly wouldn't be done in 60 days."

Saranac Lake is not under DEC or state Department of Health consent order to address water-quality impact from runoff on Lake Colby, he added.

"We're under no consent order to cover our salt piles. We can't just build a salt shed on a whim, nor have we refused to do that."

Keet said Lake Colby Association helped secure grant funds to build the shed.

But the grant has been in place for four years.

"The thing is in complete limbo," Keet said.

E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com