Nowhere to Run

Water rights and wrongs on Lake George

by Brian Mann

When rainsqualls blow in across Lake George it’s a natural event, part of a cycle that has shaped the valley for thousands of years. But a fierce new debate has erupted over how to manage the deluge of stormwater runoff that spills from fast-growing subdivisions and luxury homes along the shore. 

According to a report published by the Lake George Park Commission (LGPC), residential runoff in the watershed contains everything from grease to lead to fecal coliform bacteria. “Lake water quality is significantly reduced near stormwa ter outfalls following storm events,” the study concludes.

“Only five percent of this watershed is developed,” said Peter Bauer, executive director of the environmental group Fund for Lake George. “What happens when we get to seven, eight or nine percent? That will happen in our lifetimes.”

The science of residential runoff is pretty straightforward. Humans have a knack for building impermeable surfaces, such as driveways, parking lots and roofs. In the process, we also tend to eliminate more absorptive surfaces, such as wetlands, meadows and forests. 

When rain hits a developed area—especially in these steep Adirondack valleys—huge amounts of sediment and other gunk wash downstream. State and federal agencies have been stepping up regulation of polluted urban runoff since the early 1990s. In the Adirondacks the problem has become a growing environmental flash point as development has pushed into more ecologically sensitive areas.

“What we’ve seen the last couple of years is an increase in [residential] projects on steeper slopes or on sites with poor soils,” said Keith McKeever, spokesman for the Adirondack Park Agency. “That means more protections are needed.”

In 2009 Lake George found itself in a battle over runoff, in part because the lake’s water is among the purest in the United States and is still used as a drinking source by many lakeshore residents. The basin has also seen an ex­plosio n in second-home development. 

Critics insist that those sprawling new subdivisions and waterfront mansions are contributing to problems that range from sediment deltas to algae blooms. Dawn Keppler, with the nonprofit Lake George Waterkeeper, said expanded surveys b y her organization are turning up more streams damaged by development.

“We determined that twice as many sample sites were slightly impacted and four times as many were moderately impacted this year, compared with 2007,” Keppler said, adding that most of the deterioration seemed to be occurring in areas wh ere streamside forests had been damaged or removed. 

The LGPC already has stormwater regulations in place, designed to limit residential pollution. Now the state land-use planning agency is proposing a controversial slate of rules that would restrict home construction in new subdivisions within 100 feet of streams. Existing lots that are already subdivided would face a smaller, 35-foot buffer.

“What’s regulated?” said LGPC commissioner Mike White. “Well, development. That includes subdivisions, land disturbance, land clearing and building.” In other words, just about everything that drives the lake’s resort economy. 

Many locals in towns around Lake George describe the proposal as a bureaucratic power grab that will stifle prosperity and bring down land values. “If we adopt these new regulations, you virtually take away my right to do anything with the property that I own,” said Bruce Houseworth, a resident of Bolton Landing, at a hearing held in February 2009.

The debate has grown rancorous, with local governments passing resolutions against the regulations and citizens’ groups accusing Governor David Paterson of “stacking” the LGPC’s board with members recommended by green activists. 

Many here are convinced that state officials are focusing too much scrutiny on residential runoff, while ignoring salt from state-maintained highways and pollution from outdated septic tanks. “There’s not a lake in the whole country that went bad from stormwater,” said Lake George town supervisor Louis Tessier. 

“Lakes go bad from sewage,” he said. (In fact, Lake George village’s Shepard Park beach was closed for most of the summer after a sewer pipe broke, leaking 8,000 gallons of sewage into the lake.) “I feel bad for people who planned to mo ve here and spend the rest of their life here after they retire. Now they find out that they own a piece of property that they’ve been paying taxes on that they can’t use. That’s not fair,” Tessier insisted. 

Private developers and landscapers say they’re already working to ease the stormwater problem in ways that don’t curtail development. “There’s going to be some back and forth over what’s reasonable in terms of maintaining water quality versus the rights of the landowner,” said Gregg Ursprung, of Saratoga Associates, a company that has developed a number of the biggest new subdivisions in the Adirondack Park.

“We’re looking at rain gardens, which provide a good level of treatment,” he said. “We’re building created wetlands and using runoff from roofs for irrigation. Some people don’t want to spend the extra money to do that, but other people understand if they’re living on Lake George they want to protect the quality of the lake.” 

But there are residents living along the shore who say Lake George’s environmental woes are a sign that more stringent restrictions are needed. That means not just better-designed homes, but fewer homes and more protection for streams. 

Speaking at the February hearing, Melissa Vito, from Diamond Point, said, “Hearing that the entire near-shore area of the southern basin was blanketed with algae was quite a shock. The news was also a clear wake-up call to local citizens and local governments that it’s time to change our ways. ” There is no clear proof that recent algae blooms were triggered by runoff, though researchers do say that lawn fertilizer and other residential pollutions are a growing risk factor.

Peter Bauer said limiting development could actually boost the region’s economy. “This area has some of the highest property values east of the Mississippi. Warren County has $550 million in tourism activity. It’s all driven by Lake George,” he said. 

Unless stream protection regulations are approved soon—the process is currently bogged down in political wrangling and recent drafts have less rigorous rules—new homes will carve away forest buffers along East and English Brooks, two key waterways. 

“Right now this is largely a forested area where there is an intact forest canopy,” Bauer explained, pointing at the bed of a rocky, tumbling creek. “Houses [are planned] within 25 feet of the stream on both sides.”

The debate over Lake George’s water quality may be a harbinger of more intense regulations for the rest of the Adirondack Park. In 2009 the village of Saranac Lake was fined by the Department of Environmental Conservation after debris from a salt storage area leached into nearby Lake Colby. Green groups have raised stormwater-related questions about the Adirondack Club and Resort project proposed for Tupper Lake.

There is also a growing effort to encourage voluntary steps that reduce residential runoff dramatically. The Lake George Association launched a “Lake Friendly” living program, designed to encourage low-impact strategies for cutting stormwater. The organization is holding workshops to help residents build rain barrels for capturing runoff.

The Lake Champlain Basin Program and the city of South Burlington—which created the region’s first stormwater management utility—are trying to convince locals to give up bad habits that can turn urban runoff into toxic waste.

For instance, improperly draining a swimming pool can dump huge amounts of chlorine into a river or lake. Instead of washing your car at home, use a commercial car wash with proper waste-disposal drains. Or think twice about fertilizing your lawn or blacktopping your driveway, which can pump phosphorous and hy­dro­carbons into nearby waterways. 

Environmentalists say this kind of education can help reduce stormwater woes. But they insist that new regulations and better enforcement are the only way to ensure that people comply. 

“Folks put money into their houses rather than building stormwater protection,” Bauer said. “There’s no one going out to make sure the stormwater controls have been put in. The Lake George Park Commission doesn’t do it and the local towns don’t do it.”