The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is recommending a public health advisory be issued for the Lake Cochituate South Pond and Fiske Pond due to evidence of possibly toxic blue-green algae blooms (cyanobacteria)—and Natick’s Health Department has dutifully complied.
(And wait, I thought we had settled on it being “Fisk” Pond?)
Fisk Pond water lilies
The town warns the public to avoid boating or swimming, and the swimming part also goes for pets, at the following access points to the Lake Cochituate South Pond until the advisory is lifted.
- Boating Club by Eddy’s Park
- Middlesex Path
- Pegan Cove
- Natick Soldier Systems Center
- Boat ramp to Fiske Pond
- Fishing docks on West Central St. (aka, remnants of a maintenance access platform for the horseshoe dam at that point of the Pond)
In other words, all access points to Lake Cochituate South Pond and Fisk Pond.
More: Kayaking at Natick’s Fisk Pond: Not what I expected
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection describes cyanobacteria as microscopic bacteria that can grow into algal blooms that can pollute water and may even be toxic to animals and people.
The state’s Department of Public Health will conduct follow-up sampling at the waterbodies when there is no longer visual evidence of a bloom, according to the Natick Health Department.
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