The General Membership Meeting of the Lake Forest Association
will be held on November 15, 2009, at 7:30 PM,
at the Church of Reconciliation
110 N. Elliott Rd., Chapel Hill

All Members and Associate Members of the Lake Forest Association are encouraged to attend.

Meeting Agenda

2008 Meeting Minutes

The meeting will include voting on proposed changes to the association by-laws.

Summary of By-Law Changes

1. General meetings are to be held in autumn and spring but not in a designated month.
2. Update titles — “Chairman” revised to just “Chair”; similarly for Vice-Chair.
3. Treasurer, not Secretary, is responsible for maintaining the membership list, as this is now integrated with the accounting records.
4. The Associate Member program is continued.
5. Also some clarifying editorial or other minor changes have been made.

Current By-Laws

Proposed By-Laws

Membership Meeting Proxy

If you cannot attend, but would like someone to vote your wishes as your proxy, click the above link, print the downloaded file, fill it out and sign it, and give it to a voting member to bring to the meeting.

Anthony Henage and I took our fifth 2009 water samples Wednesday, September 2, at about noon. Here are the “preliminary” results:
#1 Dock 6 cfu
#2 Cedar Fork Creek 11 cfu
#3 Booker Creek 17 cfu

These readings are at the low end of the “safe” range. As usual, I will not revise this posting unless the “official” results turn out to be something different.

Lake water temp: 24-25C, 75-77F

The SECCI clarity reading was 18 inches. That is the most turbid reading we have had this year, almost exactly the same as last year at this time

The water was pretty cool, although we have warmer days and nights predicted for the next couple of weeks. The lake warms up pretty quickly on a sunny afternoon and stays comfortable if the nighttime air temperature does not go below the low “60s”. This is our last regularly scheduled water sampling for 2009 unless we have an extended warm spell at the end of September.

Our water tests are the same as those taken at other open-water swimming locations in the state. The test looks for one type of “indicator organism” that is representative of water contamination from human and animal waste. The fecal coliform bacterium is present in almost all open water, and only represents a health risk at certain concentrations. It lives in our bodies and in the bodies of all warm-blooded animals. It does not grow or reproduce outside the body. Test readings in the safe range indicate bacteria that are being neutralized by dilution and by time outside the body in a normal process.

Our testing does not analyze all likely or possible types of contamination. Use common sense about showering or bathing after you swim, and about where and when you swim. Areas near the shore with little water flow, and the entire lake right after a rainfall are more likely to be contaminated or muddy.

We are fortunate to have an urban lake with good water quality. The three biggest hazards we face are surface contamination from animal waste and excess lawn chemicals, development (causing erosion and more impervious surfaces), and spills or overflows of wastewater. Our watershed is about 4 square miles mostly to the North and West of Lake Forest. It includes Lake Ellen, and the area around the airport. We get notices from OWASA whenever there is a sewage spill in this area. Fortunately, that is becoming rare. About a decade ago it was a regular occurrence

Chuck Henage
chenagemht@aol.com

We took our fourth 2009 water samples Tuesday, July 14, at about 2 pm.

#1 Dock 41 cfu
#2 Cedar Fork Creek Not sampled
#3 Booker Creek 43 cfu

Caution level is individual reading above 400 cfu, or average above 200 cfu.

Lake water temp: 28.5C, 83F

The SECCI clarity reading was 24 inches.

This was follow-up on the results we got from last week’s sampling. The result is OK, there is no continued cause for concern. I saw no need to resample the tributary with a low bacterial level.

As I predicted, the counts have dropped to a level well below the caution threshold. It rained Sunday night and Monday. The protocol is to avoid testing after a rain event, but we were seeing another possible rain event later in the week and we did not want to miss our window for the timely follow-up test. Because of the rain, these readings are slightly higher than the actual levels of bacteria in the lake. Since the downstream reading was the higher one, we have an indication that normal flow has been reestablished with the recent rain. That means there is a normal “flushing” of water through the lake.

Rainfall brings benefits and detriments to our water quality. The benefits include dissolved oxygen, and the detriments include debris and surface contamination. In August we normally have less rainfall. The bacterial count does not usually rise much, and the water may become “clearer” and warmer. The darker and murkier water we see in the lake after rain is actually fresher. What makes it murky is solids in suspension as opposed to in solution, so sometimes the clearer looking water will discolor light-colored swimwear faster….

Chuck Henage
chenagemht@aol.com