Accord reached on Lake Cochituate weeds

By Megan McKee, Globe Correspondent

After years of discussion to resolve how to treat invasive weeds in Lake Cochituate, the state agency that oversees the lake, Natick’s Conservation Commission, and a group of concerned citizens have reached a settlement to avoid further litigation.

‘‘People realized after three years of yelling at each other that funding was the main issue,’’ said Bob Bois, Natick’s environmental compliance officer.

Instead of relying on chemical treatment like the lake’s steward, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, originally wanted, a specialized boat that helps divers pull up weeds by hand will be used initially. Rental of the boat is being funded by a $12,500 from the Conservation Commission and a matching $25,000 grant from the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

To oversee the treatment and organize future care of the lake, the Lake Cochituate Watershed Council has been established. Residents Pat Conaway and Carole Berkowitz, head of Protect Our Water Resources, a citizens group that opposes chemical treatment of the lake, leading the council. Bois said the council will organize volunteers and fund-raise to pay for the lake’s upkeep.

Wendy Fox, a spokeswoman for the Department of Conservation and Recreation, said her agency is ‘‘very pleased with the partnership.’’ She said treatment with the specialized boat will happen in May. She also said that although the agency has the option to treat the weeds chemically, the agency is hoping to avoid that option.

Under the agreement, if DCR does use chemicals, it will have to report to the Conservation Commission results of water sampling and vegetation surveying.

Milfoil infests more than 120 of the lake’s 625 acres, but the Department of Conservation and Recreation , or DCR, plans to treat only a 5-acre section in the lake’s Middle Pond swimming and boat launch area because of the high cost of treatment.

The DCR said last year that chemical treatment was the only economically viable option to remove milfoil, an invasive weed that wreaks havoc on fresh-water ecosystems, choking out native plants and posing risks to swimmers and boat engines, which can become entangled in the plant’s long stalks.

The Conservation Commission agreed that herbicide is necessary, but last year attached conditions to its use to ensure that one of the town’s drinking wells, which sits close to the edge of the treatment area, remains uncontaminated, according to Bois.

‘‘We wanted to put a short leash on the project so we could stay involved,’’ he said at the time.

But the use of any herbicide wasn’t acceptable to members of Protect Our Water Resources. With their lawyer, they appealed to the state environmental agency to overrule the Conservation Commission.

As a result of the appeal, the environmental agency removed all of the Conservation Commission’s requirements, which led the commission as well as the citizens group to appeal.

All three parties, the Conservation Commission, the DCR, and the citizens group, agreed on a settlement to avoid incurring the cost of further litigation.

Bois said the settlement outlines ‘‘a more holisitic approach to the lake’’ that represents ‘‘a great approach.’’

Bois said that if the DASH boat is successful this year, the watershed association will look into buying a boat to use on the lake.

The newly-formed watershed council is holding a symposium on the lake’s watershed on May 15 at the Town Hall.

Megan McKee can be reached at megan.mckee@gmail.com.