Newsletter articles

By Irene Luck - November 2020

Covid couldn’t stop LACA from holding its annual meeting, even though it had to be postponed briefly and then held virtually on Saturday morning, October 24.  Nearly 150 members and guests logged in to hear what the civic organization has been doing in the past year.

With the third season of swim advisories, due to harmful algal blooms, the board chose Dr. Jennifer Graham, Research Hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey as the guest speaker.  Dr. Graham’s topic, “Cyanotoxin Occurrence in the U.S. -- A 20-year Retrospective,” provided an in-depth history of the occurrence of algal blooms and how the evaluation process has changed over the years.  Her presentation is included in the record of our minutes and if you missed the meeting you can access the recording on our website or by clicking here.

We also welcomed our two new board members – Pamela Hahn, the Mineral/Louisa regional director, and Rick Nehrboss, the Brokenburg regional director.  Both were elected in July during online voting, another new process for the association.  President Greg Baker also introduced Jean McCormick, the Cuckoo regional director who was appointed in September following the resignation of Dick Shrum.

One of the key accomplishments for the organization this year is the new website which offers members the ability to maintain their own information and allows the board to send the newsletters via email, resulting in a tremendous savings in the budget.  The website allows for more flexible contact with our members, more up-to-date information as well as the ability to pay membership dues and make donations online.

The biggest focus of LACA this year has been related to the harmful algae blooms and water quality with the Water Quality Committee and Environmental Preservation Committee teaming up to work on potential solutions from different angles.

LACA is also contributing $10,000 to the Lake Anna Advisory Committee’s [LAAC] sediment study which is currently underway.  LAAC is a sister organization comprised of representatives from the three county Supervisors [Louisa, Orange and Spotsylvania] as well as citizen representatives from each county.  They are undertaking a three-phase effort to determine the source of the algae reaching the lake and find ways to mitigate the causes.  The Water Quality and Environmental Protection committees are also closely monitoring the efforts of LAAC

Another feature of the annual meeting is the presentation of the Jack Bertron Distinguished Service Award.  This year, three people were recognized for their contributions to the organization and the Lake Anna community.

Patty Shapiro retired from the board this year after serving for 15 years, first as the association’s secretary from 2006 to 2010 and then as the Brokenburg regional director from 2010 until her retirement. 

Ken Remmers stepped away from leading the Water Quality Committee in 2019 but continued to work with the new leadership in the transition.  Under his leadership the water monitoring program expanded its focus and outreach by partnering with numerous agencies in the state.  He was presented the award for the second time for his many hours of service to protecting Lake Anna.

Steve Falkenthal also received the award for the second time as he retired from his role with the Water Quality Committee.  Steve spent many hours navigating through the water quality data, ensuring the equipment was calibrated and ready to go each testing day and working to ensure the program maintained its Level 3 certification with DEQ.

Both Ken and Steve put in many hours improving the standards used by the water monitoring teams in keeping LACA as one of the few citizen monitoring teams recognized by DEQ as capturing data equivalent to theirs.

President Greg thanked all three honorees for their many years of dedicated service to the volunteer organization, often while still working regular jobs.

Reports from other committees are captured in the recording of the meeting and a synopsis of each committee’s activities can be found on our You Tube channel by clicking here.

If you have friends or neighbors who aren’t members of LACA but are interested in hearing the information presented, please share it with them and encourage them to join.  LACA is an all-volunteer organization so if you would like to get involved, reach out to one of the board members or committee chairs – their contact information is all on the LACA website.

By Al Bennett - November 2020

November is a significant month for Lake Anna’s aquatic life and continued good water quality.  It is the time of the year when the lake “turns over”, meaning the internal workings of the lake completely mix the water throughout the entire depth of the lake, sometimes referred to as the water column.  This mixing brings much needed oxygen from the surface water region (scientific term is epilimnion) to the lake’s bottom layer (hypolimnion).  Likewise, the nutrients that have been generated and are present at the lake’s bottom are released throughout the water column.

To understand how and why the lake mixes, one must first understand the relationship between water temperature and its density.  Water possesses a unique property in that it is most dense and therefore the heaviest when its temperature is 39.2 degrees.  Above and below this temperature, water is less dense.  See the below table for the weight of a gallon of water at various temperatures.

In the summer months and in the mid to lower section of the lake where water depth exceeds 40 feet, the lake becomes stratified into three layers where the water temperature within each layer is relatively constant.  See the below table.  In June and for the first 40 feet or so it is not uncommon for the water temperature to be about 81 degrees at the surface and roughly 74 degrees at the 40 foot level.  Another layer (metalimnion), commonly referred to as the thermocline, extends down to a depth of about 60 ft where the temperature at that depth is on the order of 63 degrees.  Below the 60 ft level, water temperature drops to approximately 60 degrees at the deepest part of the lake.

Lake stratification slowly disappears in the mid to upper region of the lake.  At The Splits (North Anna River/Pamunkey Creek) and above, the lake becomes shallower and the water temperature is uniform throughout the water column.

As the season transitions from summer to fall, the surface water becomes increasing cooler.  As it cools, it becomes denser (heavier) thereby, displacing the water at lower depths.  By about mid November, the water temperature at the surface near the dam and at a depth of 69 feet will be about the same, approximately 62 degrees.

Throughout the fall and winter, the water will become colder within the water column; however, the variation in temperature will be minimal. Since there is minimal temperature variation, nutrients and oxygen travel freely within the water column. Wind assists with water circulation. Come late spring, the lake’s surface layer will begin to warm and by the summer, the lake will once again be stratified where oxygen within the highly oxygenated top layer and the nutrients in the nutrient rich bottom layer will remain “trapped” until the lake “turns over” again in November 2021.

By Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts - November 2020 

The Virginia Conservation Assistance Program (VCAP) is an urban cost-share program that provides financial incentives and technical and educational assistance to property owners installing eligible Best Management Practices (BMPs) in Virginia’s participating Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs). Most practices are eligible for 75% cost-share and some practices provide a flat incentive payment up to the installation cost. These practices can be installed in areas of your yard where problems like erosion, poor drainage, or poor vegetation occur. Qualified sites shall be used for residential, commercial, or recreational purposes with a proposed practice that addresses a need.

Your Local SWCD Can Help You…

 Restore problem areas
Control and minimize erosion
Conserve water within the landscape
Improve riparian buffer areas
Promote wildlife habitat
Re-vegetate bare slopes
Stabilize drainage ways
Treat stormwater runoff

We Help You Make a Difference…

Why do Virginia’s waters need improving? Nonpoint source pollution is the leading cause of water quality problems. Rainfall or snowmelt from suburban lawns, golf courses, and paved surfaces picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and ground waters.

Roads, parking lots, sidewalks, homes, and offices replace natural landscapes. Rainfall that once soaked into vegetated ground now becomes stormwater runoff, which flows directly into local waterways.

As more natural landscapes are converted to impermeable surfaces or managed turf, stormwater moves across them, carrying pollutants such as sediment and nutrients to vulnerable streams and rivers. Storm drains you see on the street do not provide any sort of water filtration.

Virginia’s Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) for the Chesapeake Bay identifies that urban/suburban runoff is contributing to impairment and efforts to retro-actively address stormwater runoff from existing impervious surfaces is a priority. VCAP is an opportunity to help you do your part to improve water quality.

Eligible Practices… 

Most practices are eligible for 75% cost-share and some practices provide a flat incentive payment up to the installation cost.

Conservation Landscaping

Impervious Surface Removal

Permeable Pavement Installation

Dry Wells

Rainwater Harvesting

Vegetated Conveyance System

Constructed Wetlands

Bioretention

Rain Gardens

Infiltration

Green Roofs

Living Shorelines

All participating Soil & Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) in Virginia are eligible for VCAP assistance.

Contact

Marta Perry	Anne Coates	Greg Wichelns
Director	Director	Director
Tri-County/City SWCD	T. Jefferson SWCD	Culpeper SWCD
marta.perry@tccswcd.org	anne.coates@tjswcd.org	gregw@culpeperswcd.org
540-656-2401	434-975-0224	540-825-8591
4811 Carr Drive	706G Forest Avenue	351 Lakeside Drive
Fredericksburg	Charlottesville	Culpeper

By Harry Looney - October 2020

As part of our ongoing efforts to prevent Harmful Algae Blooms (HABs) from forming on Lake Anna, LACA established an academic partnership with the Environmental Studies Program at Randolph-Macon College (R-MC) in early 2020, initiating a research effort to sample, measure and analyze nutrients (phosphorous, orthophosphates and nitrogen) in the lake sediment.  Dr. Mike Fenster and Dr. Chas Gowan lead the R-MC research program that will involve sediment sampling in the lake north of the 208 bridge. 

The R-MC research program began in August when the students returned to campus and started the fall semester.  R-MC’s fall semester is broken into two parts due to COVID-19 restrictions and school protocols.  The Environmental Studies course was only 8 weeks in duration, so the faculty and students had to fit a considerable amount of planning and preparation into a short period of time. 

The R-MC research program is focused on sediment collection in the main tributaries from the 208 bridge to the northern headwaters of the lake (North Anna River, Pamunkey Creek and Terry’s Run).  We included several creeks in the upper lake area as well (Plentiful Creek, Foremost Run and Ware’s Creek).  The R-MC research program will be conducted over several academic semesters.  All data will be analyzed by the students to quantify the levels of nitrogen, orthophosphates, and phosphorus in the sediment.  We expect to have initial insights after completion of program activities in the spring semester (April 2021).  All data, insights and results generated by the R-MC research will be provided to LACA for our internal review.  The R-MC research in the spring semester will focus on data analysis and visualization to inform our understanding of how the nutrients in the sediment can be made available to cyanobacteria that are naturally present in the lake.

The R-MC fall semester execution plan was impacted significantly by COVID-19, so the students were not able to go out on the lake to collect samples.  LACA and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) implemented a back-up plan and were able to collect samples at nine locations.  The data generated by this sampling effort will be used in the continuing R-MC research effort.  LACA thanks the R-MC faculty and students for their efforts under such unfavorable, extreme conditions. LACA also thanks DEQ for their efforts in stepping in to collect the sediment samples when COVID-19 impacted the R-MC sampling plan.

Results from the R-MC research project will be shared with the Lake Anna Advisory Committee (LAAC) that is executing a comprehensive study to determine the cause of our recent harmful algae blooms (HABs) and to inform course-of-action development into potential remediation actions that could be taken.  Phase one of the LAAC project focuses on the North Anna River from Holladay Bridge west to the upper reaches of the lake.  The objective of LAAC’s robust study is to determine the magnitude of phosphorus and nitrogen loading from external (from the streams) and internal (in the water column and sediment) sources.  The tasks that will be executed to achieve their objective include mapping the North Anna River watershed, mapping of the lake bottom and sediment sampling.

Sediment nutrient loading is one of the key knowledge gaps that LACA, LAAC and DEQ have identified with our understanding of the lake dynamics.  Both the R-MC academic research effort and the LAAC project are working to fill this knowledge gap so our decisions are based on data and science informed by relevant, current data. 

Interested LACA members are welcome to volunteer in support of this research program.  Contact the Water Quality Committee leads if you are interested in learning more or volunteering to support this research program.

By Maureen Daniels - October 2020

 Thank You to:

•  The majority who operate boats and jet skis responsibly and are mindful of how their favorite activity might be affecting others enjoying theirs!

•   The members of the Lake Anna Rescue Group (LARG): Louisa and Spotsylvania deputies; Police officers from the Department of Wildlife Resources, formerly known as DGIF; Louisa and Spotsylvania Counties’ Fire & Rescue personnel; particularly, the Spotsylvania Dive Team, all of whom ran patrols on the Lake on weekends and holidays. They provided a consistent presence on the water and were able to respond to incidents in a more timely manner.

Members of LARG participate in two drills each year. The goal is to to improve communication, cooperation and coordination of assets and personnel from all the agencies who respond to emergencies on Lake Anna.

•   To all members of the Lake Anna community who have installed yellow and black 911 signs on their docks and in common areas. All incidents on the water are dispatched to the exact dock sign—or nearest sign—which serve as water based 911 addresses for law enforcement and fire & rescue. In some cases, since they are linked to the 911 street address, responses were made by road and water. Get your application on the LACA website.

•   To our safety partner, Dominion Energy, for funding the installation of yellow and black 911 signs on their islands, which serve the same purpose as 911 dock signs.

•   To the Lake residents who have successfully advocated for Louisa County funding, and have established a fund raising campaign to make the New Bridge EMS Station a reality. The Rescue Station will serve the Lake Anna community and residents and visitors who experience an emergency on the Lake.

Make It Happen Lake Anna!

The Foundation for Lake Anna Emergency Services for the New Bridge Rescue EMS Station is very close to reaching their goal of raising $100,000. Your contribution now can put them over the top!

To learn more and to make a donation go to:  newbridgerescue.com

•   Finally, to all LACA safety partners, in addition to LARG—marinas, restaurants, campgrounds, boat and jet ski rentals, Dominion Energy, the State Park, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, TowBoatUS and LKA Signs and Designs— for your continual efforts to make Lake Anna a safer place for all its users.

•   We appreciate you all!

By Al Bennett - October 2020

This article is a reprint of an article that was first published in October 2018. It is a seasonal reminder that blowing leaves into the lake is not a good practice, especially given the recurrence of Harmful Algae Blooms over the past three years.  

As homeowners, it is difficult for us to control the amount of nutrients that enter our lake from upstream sources; however, as residents we can control what enters the lake from our respective properties.

Blowing leaves into the lake is not recommended.  Although not illegal, it is a form of littering that is discourteous to neighbors and it is harmful to the lake’s ecosystem.

Leaves blown into the lake rarely settle at the shoreline of origin.  They are carried by wind and current to other locations before they reach bottom.  In coves, it is usually the few lots at the back of the cove that receive the leaf debris.  They are unsightly and over time, sedimentation buildup will cause these owners to lose water depth and will leave them with a squishy bottom.

Decaying leaves release nutrients, primarily carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous.  These nutrients are great for soil but excess nutrients are a pollutant to lakes like ours.  These nutrients, especially phosphorous, are a fertilizer for hydrilla and algae, promoting their growth.  As hydrilla growth spreads, herbicides and/or carp are then needed to control its growth. 

Similarly, excessive nutrient levels can contribute to low dissolved oxygen levels by causing abundant growths of phytoplankton (microscopic plants and algae) called blooms. Living phytoplankton may deplete oxygen levels during the night and as the phytoplankton die; decomposition of the organic material by bacteria consumes oxygen.

Let’s all be good neighbors and good stewards of our lake’s ecosystem by not blowing leaves into the lake.  Instead, consider collecting and finely mulching them and spreading them so their nutrients can be returned to your soil.

By Greg Baker - September 2020

Orange County Resort Update

LACA alerted our membership to the Special Use Permit (SUP) application for the Orange County Resort by both an E-Gram, on our website’s home page and under the land use program section of the website. 

The Orange County Planning Commission (OCPC) heard the application at their regular meeting on August 20^th, 2020. The OCPC voted to deny the application by a unanimous vote of 5-0. 

The original application was ultimately amended and called for daily rentals of 150-175 luxury motorcoaches along with amenities such as fuel sales, a camp store, a marina and up to 150 docks.

LACA had many concerns related to this development that it shared with the OCPC and with our membership. In an “E-Gram: Call to Action” alert to our Region 7 membership, we pointed our members to our list of concerns on our website and urged members to write emails of concerns to the OCPC. This effort led to approximately 80 emails to the commission, of which the majority were from LACA members. 

The commissioners took note of these concerns and referenced the issues in their comments to the developer. Some of the highlights from the meeting were as follows:

• One member stated that in his 8 years on the commission, that the application was the worst he had ever seen.
• Several members said the development would be a non-starter without turn lanes off of route 522.
• The members acknowledge the many concerns brought up by citizens including those shared by the Lake Anna Civic Association.
• Gary Griffith, the developer’s representative, requested that the SUP be tabled to allow for the developers to address more of the concerns. However, the chair stated that this option was provided prior to the meeting and that Mr. Griffith had insisted on being heard at the August 20^th meeting. 

This development straddles the Orange County and Spotsylvania County line. As of this writing, the SUP for Spotsylvania County has not been scheduled to be heard. 

Ultimately, LACA believes that the developer will rework their proposal and resubmit a revised plan. We hope that our recommendations will be incorporated into any revisions. We will continue to monitor this development and will keep our membership abreast of any pending meetings or opportunities for feedback.

LAAC Phase One HAB Study Approved

The Lake Anna Advisory Committee, different from LACA, is a quasi-governmental organization established collectively by the three counties surrounding Lake Anna. LAAC is best known for maintaining and approving various regulatory buoys on the lake as well as controlling hydrilla among many other things. Their primary focus is to coordinate lake concerns with Louisa, Spotsylvania and Orange Counties. 

LAAC’s Board had the vision to create a three-phase program to understand and ultimately address the Harmful Algae Blooms (HABs) that the lake has suffered through the past three years. Phase 1 is a comprehensive study of the watershed to determine the cause and potential remediation of HABs. Phase one would focus on the North Anna Branch from the upper reaches of the lake to the Holladay Bridge. 

The study is robust and includes determining the magnitude of phosphorus and nitrogen loading; both internal and external. It would include mapping of the watershed, mapping of the lake bottom and sediment sampling to determine the existing nutrient loads that have developed over the lake’s 50-year life. You can learn more by reading the Request for Proposal.

Phase 2 of the study would expand on Phase 1 and cover from the Holladay Bridge down to the “splits” (in front of the state park) and back up the lake to include all of the Pamunkey Creek and Terry’s Run sections of the lake. Phase 3 would be the remediation phase to correct the issues that are discovered in Phases 1 & 2.

The cost of Phase 1 will be approximately $50,000. I am happy to announce that the LACA Board voted unanimously to contribute $10,000 towards the cost of this very important first step. Phase 2 will be substantially more expensive and Phase 3 will likely need to be funded by the Virginia General Assembly. 

LACA New Board Member Approved

Dick Shrum, the newly reelected Regional Director for region 2, the Cuckoo District tendered his resignation to LACA shortly after the recent LACA elections this summer. Dick has served on the LACA board for many years and we will miss his dedication and the knowledge of the private side that he brought to our board. Dick continues to serve as the treasurer of LAAC. He will be missed.

The board nominated and approved Jean McCormick as his replacement. Jean’s volunteerism on Lake Anna is well known. She is a member of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary and serves as the Chair of LAAC’s Navigation Committee. We are lucky to have Jean representing region 2 and we appreciate her willingness to serve.

Annual Meeting Update

With no end in sight to the coronavirus pandemic, LACA’s board made the decision to postpone our regularly scheduled in-person annual meeting in July. We had hoped to reschedule an in-person meeting later in the year, but the board believes that the best course of action is to host the meeting virtually. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for October 24^th and will be hosted using the Zoom platform. More information will be coming in the next few weeks as we coordinate a guest speaker and finalize our agenda. We will post information on our website and send an E-Gram once the plans have been finalized.

By Culpeper Soil and Water Conservation District - September 2020

Agricultural conservation funding from the Commonwealth for Culpeper Soil and Water was three times the normal rate this past year and all of that funding was allocated to conservation projects, including many in Orange County and the Upper York project area.

Wildlflower Meadow Buffers Along the Waterfront

This was a remarkable achievement by conservation district staff and includes many stream fencing projects and cover crops.  Septic system pump-out and repair funding remains available in the Upper York watershed.  This program activity in the Upper York (Orange County only at this time) is also at an all-time high and another grant for this will commence later this year.  This new grant will still be for Orange County and will include Gold Mine Creek in Louisa County. Anyone interested in septic program cost share at this time in the Upper York watershed in Orange County should contact Henny at 540-948-7531.  Further information on the new grant will be forthcoming later.

The Culpeper District continues to have vouchers to cover the cost of having your residential lawn soil tested for lime and fertilizer needs by the Virginia Tech Soil Testing Lab (Orange County only).  The District aims to educate homeowners on the proper use of lawn fertilizer and soil testing as the scientific basis for fertilizer applications.  The goal is to reduce excess fertilizer use and untimely fertilizer use, both which typically result in fertilizer runoff into Lake Anna.  More information is available from Stephanied@culpeperswcd.org.  Soil testing for lime and fertilizer can help reduce water quality problems in the Lake.

Further, Virginia’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) has a nutrient management program that establishes official agreements with lawn care companies that maintain that the company will only apply fertilizer based on soil test results.  Lake Anna Civic Association has a list of local companies that provide lawn care services around the Lake and at this time, to the best of our knowledge, none of them are party to such an agreement with the DCR.  Residents, as consumers of these services, could encourage their contractor to establish such an agreement.  This would be a “Lake Friendly” action all could undertake.  For more information on the program: https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/soil-and-water/wqagree#water-quality-companies.  This applies to all of Lake Anna properties.

Currently, one of the “Lake Friendly” LACA recommendations is to maintain a buffer between your lawn and the lake shoreline. Below is a example of planting a buffer at the shoreline.

The Virginia Conservation Assistance Program (VCAP) has specifications and funding to help establish a perennial buffer in the shore area.  More information is available at https://vaswcd.org/vcap and from richardj@culpeperswcd.org.

By LACA Water Quality Committee and Virginia Tech Schmale Lab - September 2020

LACA has a fantastic academic partnership with Dr. David Schmale and members of his Schmale Lab team at Virginia Tech (https://www.schmalelab.spes.vt.edu/) that is adding significantly to our understanding of the Harmful Algae Bloom (HAB) issues we have experienced the past three recreational seasons (2018, 2019 and 2020).  The Water Quality Committee is working with The Schmale Lab, part of the Virginia Tech School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, to collect cyanobacteria data that will add to our growing database of information about the extent and make-up of the algae blooms here at Lake Anna.  The Schmale Lab researchers utilize drones to further their understanding of why HABs are forming on the lake.  The research at Lake Anna is part of a broader research effort conducted by the Schmale Lab to understand water quality in freshwater lakes, HABs and the long-distance transport of microorganisms in the atmosphere.

Members of the Schmale Lab continued their work with drones to collect water samples at Lake Anna this past June and July.  The work this year is a continuation of the 120 drone water samples the Schmale Lab collected and analyzed from Lake Anna during the summer of 2019.

These 120 samples were collected using a unique 3D-printed sampling device attached to the drone.  Operations in 2019 spanned the upper portions of the lake as well as mid-lake and lower lake sites near the Waste Heat Treatment Facility.  Samples were analyzed for cyanotoxins, phycocyanin (a pigment used to estimate the presence of cyanobacteria), and nutrient levels.

Recent sampling efforts by the Schmale Lab team focused on land-based operations on the northern branches of Lake Anna.  Water samples were collected near the shoreline and along transects extending 100 meters from the shore.  Ground-based instruments were also deployed at these sites to capture potential cyanobacteria and toxins in the air, and wind profiles were estimated with drones up to about 80 meters above ground level.  We appreciate the assistance of all the Lake Anna homeowners that allowed the Virginia Tech researchers access to their land to conduct these collections.

The Schmale Lab partnership with LACA also includes major support of our own internal algae monitoring program that was started in May 2020.  Members of the LACA Water Quality Committee collect samples every week at stations across the lake.  LACA identified 28 primary stations for monitoring this year and we sample about a third of them each week.  Water samples are collected for analysis by LACA using new instruments purchased in the spring that allow us to generate estimates of the relative quantities of cyanobacteria in the water as well as the amount of two types of toxins that may be present in samples that indicate a high level of cyanobacteria.  In addition to the analysis conducted by LACA, a part of each sample collected by LACA is saved and frozen for analysis at the Schmale Lab.  We also share all our data with Virginia Tech and with the interested HAB stakeholders like the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS).  Maps and data plots of our algae analysis are available on the LACA website under the Water Quality Data page (https://laca.wildapricot.org/Water-Quality-Data).  All of this work is adding extensively to our understanding of the problem and provides a science and analysis-based foundation to the actions we take to counter the HAB issues.

Work conducted by the Schmale Lab at Lake Anna is supported by grants from Virginia Tech and the National Robotics Initiative in the Division of Information and Intelligent Systems of the National Science Foundation.

Authors:  Regina Hanlon, Javier Gonzalez-Rocha, Hope Gruszewski, and David Schmale, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061 and Harry Looney, LACA Water Quality Project Officer.

By Greg Baker - August 2020

LACA Board Election Results

I am happy to announce that Sue Biondi our Secretary, Joe Bailey our Vice President, Scott Webster our Assistant Treasurer and Dick Shrum the Region 2 Cuckoo Regional Director all won reelection.

We would like to welcome to the board, Pamela Hahn, the new Regional Director for Regions 3/4 representing the Mineral/Louisa Districts and Rick Nehrboss, the new Regional Director for Region 6 representing the Brokenburg District.

For the first time in LACA’s history, we conducted our annual elections via electronic ballot. The number of ballots cast in 2020 increased over the number cast in 2019. We also returned to the approach where our regional directors are elected by their constituents. The electronic election process saved LACA over $400 in postage and mailings costs and these funds will be put to much better use.  Thank you to all of our members that made the effort to express your voice by voting in this election.

The LACA board would also like to thank Mike Rigdon and Patty Shapiro for their service to LACA as Regional Directors. Patty has resigned from the board after over a decade of service and Mike will continue as our Chairman of the Environmental Preservation Committee.

Orange County Resort

Jeffrey and Donna Hayden are requesting approval for a Special Use Permit in Orange and Spotsylvania County to build a “exclusive resort development for the use of the growing Motorcoach industry.” The proposal potentially includes 250 permanent sites along with amenities such as a private marina with a boat ramp, boat storage, fuel sales and restrooms. It may include a clubhouse with a fitness center, meeting space, pool, a camp store, trails, tennis and basketball facilities. The application mentions building 250 boat slips. 

The following is a picture of the proposed location on the lake. The lot owned by the Haydens is outlined in blue, the green diagonal line is the Orange/Spotsylvania County Line.

The following is the design submitted to Orange County for the resort.

LACA’s land use committee will continue to monitor this application and report back to our membership. Our biggest initial concern is related to how wastewater will be handled. This area of the lake is one of the worst impacted by Harmful Algae Blooms and LACA is concerned with any additional external nutrient loading to the lake.

LAAC Phase 1 HAB Study Approved

LACA is happy to report that the Lake Anna Advisory Committee (LAAC) has approved Phase 1 of a robust watershed study on Lake Anna. This first phase will cover an area of approximately 1000 acres from Holladay Bridge (Route 719) west to the headwaters of Gold Mine Creek and North Anna River.  LAAC is in the process of preparing a Request for Proposal (RFP) with help from Louisa County for Phase 1.

The phase 1 study will include an in-depth look of the total watershed that feeds the waters of Lake Anna. It will include both an analysis of the sediment in the lake as well as the depth of the sediment. The RFP is requesting an analysis of the lake bottom contours and a study of the biomass (both fish and plant life) in the lake. Most importantly it will focus on the water quality of the lake and the current internal and external nutrient loadings that feed harmful algae blooms. (HAB)

Assuming Phase 1 is funded and completed, Phase 2 will expand the study from Holladay Bridge down to the splits and back up to the headwaters of Pamunkey Creek and Terry’s Run. The goal of Phase 1 and 2 is to determine what is causing and what is the recommended treatment to eradicate HABs and the corresponding no-swim advisories from Lake Anna.

Phase 3 is the treatment plan based on the findings from Phase 1 and 2. This 3-part plan is our best effort to date by the Lake Anna community to address the causes and ultimately a permanent solution to this problem. As this plan progresses, funding of Phase 2 and 3 will be the biggest impediment to getting a solution for our HAB problem. More to follow…

Hydrilla Treatment Plan Approved

Hydrilla, which is a highly invasive species has been found again in Freshwater Cove. The Lake Anna Advisory Committee has approved a treatment plan slated for later this month. The plan when implemented will provide navigational relief for the residents of this cove. Below is a picture of the hydrilla immediately below the surface in the cove that will be treated.