• Public hearings and advocacy around failing septic systems

• Sewer systems installed around the lake, reducing direct nutrient inputs

• Lake residents form the Lake Attitash Association to advocate for the lake’s health

• First professional aquatic plant survey conducted

• DEM Lake & Pond Grants awarded (1994, 1996, 1998)

• Water quality monitoring, public education, and nuisance weed harvesting begin

• Watershed planning initiated with Amesbury to guide long-term restoration

• Camp, Dresser & McKee completes the Watershed & Waterways Management Plan for Amesbury. Plan becomes the blueprint for future restoration and grant funding

• Lake & Pond Demonstration Grant funds stormwater controls, wetland restoration, and the Back River ‘Gunderboom’ (nutrient filter)

• DEP s.319 Grant funds stormwater best management practices and filtration systems

• LAA initiates legal and regulatory action over composting operations near Back River (farm on Bear Hill Road, Merrimac)

• Industrial gelatin waste disposal at the farm ceases

• Composting operations moved away from the waterway

• State and federal monitoring expanded

• LAA tracks HABs

• DPH begins testing program for HABs

• 4 HABs noted for 2010 – 9 weeks ‘no contact with the water’

• Milfoil detected in Lake Attitash

• First comprehensive aquatic plant surveys completed

• Volunteer-led invasive water chestnut removal begins in Back River

• 4 HABs noted – 8 weeks ‘no contact with the water’

• DEP S 319 Grant addresses stormwater discharges on the Merrimac side of the watershed

• Rain gardens, sediment traps, catch basins, and infiltration systems installed

• Community education and Weed Watcher programs launched

• First-ever whole-lake invasive plant treatment completed

• Funded collaboratively by Amesbury, Merrimac, and LAA

• 4 HABs noted – 10 weeks ‘no contact with the water’

• Annual professional surveys and targeted treatments

• Volunteer Weed Watchers Program established to locate invasive plants – Milfoil and Curlyleaf Pondweed.

• Volunteer program to hand pull water chestnuts – Annual task

• Herbicide spot treatment areas as needed

• 4 HABs noted in 2013 – 8 weeks ‘no contact with the water’

• 2 HABs noted for 2014 – 4-5 weeks ‘no contact with the water’

• LAA hires national expert on cyanobacteria / Harmful Algal Blooms Dr. Ken Wagner

• Excess nutrients / phosphorus cause HABs. Wagner’s studies identify sediment-bound phosphorus as the primary cause of Lake Attitash recurring algal blooms

• Alum treatment identified as the most feasible long-term solution

• 4 HABs notes for 2015 – 10 weeks ‘no contact with the water’

• With strong LAA leadership and fundraising, MADEP awards Amesbury / Attitash a major $595,000 s.319 grant for lake wide alum treatment

• Merrimac, Amesbury, the LAA and lake residents raise the required $218,000 in matching funds

• Two alum applications completed in deep areas of the lake – 2019 & 2020

• Extensive community education and monitoring programs conducted

• Result: dramatic reduction in HABs, cleaner and clearer water

• Actual cost  $400.671

LAA took the lead in a successful community effort to prevent the development of a large-scale solar farm on a forested hill on the north side of the lake, (Birchmeadow area), on land designated by Amesbury as a Water Resource Protection District (WRPD). LAA employed the services of Keegan Werlin LLP to assist lake residents and the City of Amesbury to resolve the legal issues involved. The purpose of this WRPD is to protect the water quality of Amesbury’s drinking water supply. This solar farm would have caused a dramatic increase in sediment laden stormwater runoff into Lake Attitash, increasing the risk of harmful algal growth.

• LAA Developed innovative proposal to reduce the inflow of phosphorus from Back River into the lake

• Obtained permit from Merrimac to install phosphorus filters in Back River at Bear Hill Road

• Lake Level concerns raised by residents on the Merrimac side of the lake resulted in regular and productive meetings between Amesbury and Merrimac DPW Directors, LAA and lake residents.

City of Amesbury and LAA install filters into 6 key storm drains along the eastern shore of Lake Attitash, designed to absorb phosphorus before it gets into the lake. LAA conducting testing to determine effectiveness. City of Amesbury: $10,000