Hardy Pond News
It has been years since Mobile Pumping and Dredging has left the south shore of Hardy Pond abutting Lazazzero Playground. The pond was not completely dredged from edge to edge due to the permit that the state gave the project which included protecting emerging wetlands. In particular, there is a large area along the western edge of the pond where the water is still only a foot or two deep depending on the water table, as well as the north east area where the water leaves the pond. Also 50% of the remaining pond edge are not dredged completely to the edge. But a large majority of the pond now has clear water down to about 10 feet.
The staging area where the dredging equipment was located along the south shore is currently waiting for funding to restore the 100 foot buffer zone along the edge to a park with picnic tables and walks. The preliminary planning for the project has already been done with input from the neighbors, city councillors, the Parks and Rec staff and Board, and the mayor. Lazazzero Park will be reworked to make a wonderful parking lot along Princeton Ave which will prevent cars from parking in the buffer zone. Plus the boat ramp will be moved to the end of Princeton Ave.
The water chestnut invasive weeds have been harvested down to a maintenance level of work which will have to happen annually to keep it that way which has the side benefit of costing less. It took about 7 years to get it to this state, which includes 2 years where no water chestnuts were harvested which allowed them to come back with a vengence. But with the absence of the water chestnut plants choking the surface which kept sunlight from penetraiting the water, other weeds are taking a stand in the shallow areas of the pond and causing problems.
The Hardy Pond Association is working getting a long term pond management plan in place. That is the most important item now on our agenda to ensure that all the hard work that has gone into Hardy Pond restoration is not lost nor wasted.
Submitted 3/4/2009
The City Council passes a measure to bond $375,000 of funding to complete the dredging as permitted by the state at the City Council meeting on 9/8/2003. The dredging is full steam ahead as the dredgers work to complete the dredging!
With the dredging project facing a funding shortfall so close to being complete, city officials pushed for $375,000 of funding to complete the dredging as permitted by the state at the summer City Council meeting on 8/4/2003. Please plan on attending the second reading at the City Council meeting on September 8th, 2003, to show your support for the funding. It is imperative that the funding pass now else the dredging contractor will leave and the dredging will not be completed!
Hardy Pond Association activists became concerned in the last month when maps at the dredging site showing the area dredged and how much more the dredging company was scheduled to perform indicated that the dredging would fall short of the permitted area allowed by the state. Working with the mayor David Gately, DPW Director John Bradley, Ward 2 city councillor Ed Tarallo, the general contractor, and HPA activists, a meeting was held to assess the situation. Out of the meeting came the clear understanding that to not fund the remaining dredging would be a travesty.
Also imperative was that the funding happen immediately. If the dredging company was to leave, they wouldn't come back as the amount left would be too small a project to remobilize for. So the mayor put in a request to the city council for a $375,000 loan to pay for completing the dredging. Councillor Tarallo asked that the city council suspend the rules and allow the whole City Council to hear the 1st reading immediately without the request going to committee first, which is the usual process. The City Council agreed to hear it and is now scheduled for the 2nd reading at the first City Council meeting after the summer break which will complete the funding process.
At the Waltham Fall Festival celebration on the common, the Hardy Pond Association held an art contest. The winner's drawings are available to view here.
With the state's $900K and the city's $300K previously promised, the dredging project has started removing materials again. The contract went to Mobile Pumping and Dredging, previously the subcontractor awarded just the dredging part of the job.
Thanks to our State Representative Tom Stanley who went the extra mile for Hardy Pond and lobbied hard at the door of Bob Durand, Secretary of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA), on April 9th, 2002 the city of Waltham received $900,000. The $900,000 plus the city's $300,000 it still has, while it is not quite enough to finish, will go far towards seeing the goal of Hardy Pond dredging completed. The dredging is expected to start this summer some time after the city picks a contractor at the end of the bidding process.
We thank EOEA Secretary Bob Durand for releasing the $900,000 and for his intrinsic understanding that leaving Hardy Pond half dredged would be tantamount to throwing away the millions already spent by the state.
So on behalf of the Hardy Pond Association, and all the residents of Waltham, each of which benefit from a healthy Hardy Pond, thank you Secretary Bob Durand and Representative Tom Stanley.
Earth Day Saturday May 4th, 2002
The Hardy Pond Association was at Earth Day again this year. Along with our canoe on display, information about pond care and dredging, T-shirts and hats for sale, we had a drawing contest for children. Earth Day once again for the second year in a row was at Prospect Hill Park off of Totten Pond Road.
Water Chestnut Harvesting
The water chestnut harvesting on Hardy Pond in 2001 was another successful harvest. It was made easier by the wildly successful harvest of 2000 which made a serious dent in the population. We are looking forward to this year's harvesting, and for years to come. While there may be less of them each year, once you have had water chestnuts you need to keep removing them each year as a yearly maintenance of the pond.
The water chestnuts usually start showing their leaves on the surface early in June. Last year they were later possibly due to the high level of rain that we received.
Funding In State Budget is Vetoed
In 2001, the hard work of State Senators Susan Fargo and Steven Tolman, the State Senate 2002 budget had $900,000 earmarked for Hardy Pond dredging. And there was $200,000 in the House State 2002 budget for the dredging of Hardy Pond, thanks to Representatives Tom Stanley and Peter Koutoujian.
After the state budget came out of conference committee where the Representatives and Senators hash it out into a single unified budget, we still had a line otem of $200,000. Then the $200,000 was stricken from the budget by the governor leaving us with no money to get dredging started again.
Hardy Pond Clean Up
Another successful OperationOver twenty people showed up on April 28th, 2001, to bravely forage through the underbrush and wetlands surrounding Hardy Pond for trash thrown there by scofflaws. Whether it was an unthinking mind or one bent on breaking the law, trash, yard waste, couches, car parts, building materials, old tires, even TVs, made their way back into the areas surrounding Hardy Pond and even in the pond in some cases.
There was one super hazardous find a couple of weeks before the clean up. A member of the Hardy Pond Association, Mike Williams, on a 7 minute clean up to see how much trash he and his son Calvin could gather around the pond that was to be used as a presentation for Earth Day at Prospect Hill Park, found a 5 gallon container of roofing tar in the wetlands. The roofing tar had permeated the soil. The city was contacted, and so was the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), who said that a spill that small just couldn't get any attention from the state DEP. Mike Williams gathered up the offending mess and brought that down to Earth Day too.
The last clean up, just 2 short years ago, netted about as much as the eager team pulled this year. It was discussed that perhaps the Hardy Pond Association should make the clean up a yearly event, which should help keep the clean up to an easier load. And we can only hope that if enough of the people who throw things in and around the pond see the effort going on that they may mend their abhorrent ways.
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Hardy Pond Association, Inc.
104 Lake Street
Waltham MA 02451-3123
781-899-5344
info@hardypond.org
