NJDEP gives Lake Mohawk $160K to fight HABS

Sparta. The Lake Mohawk Country Club and Lake Mohawk Preservation Foundation will receive some $160,000 to fight Harmful Algal Blooms from the state Department of Environmental Protection, the agency announced Tuesday. The money comes from $2.5 million earmarked by Gov. Phil Murphy as part of his $13 million plan to fight the blooms that devastated lake businesses last summer.

| 10 Mar 2020 | 03:04

Lake Mohawk Country Club and the Lake Mohawk Preservation Foundation will receive $160,924 in matching funds from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to combat Harmful Algal Blooms in the lake.

The funds will go to a 24-month project that will study how effective non-copper algaecides and chemicals that would render phosphorus in the lake inactive, according to a release from the agency.

It is one of nine projects awarded $2.5 million in state matching funds for various projects on lakes battling with the HABS. The funds will be used to reduce the excessive levels of nutrients that enter the lakes and cause the blooms to grow. Although naturally occurring, the blooms can be harmful to pets and people.

The state identified 39 blooms last summer and issued advisories not to come into contact with the water on those lakes, including Lake Hopatcong and Greenwood Lake.

The advisories proved devastating to businesses along those bodies of water. Each grant recipient is matching a third of the project’s costs, according to the agency.