Wayland Board of Health endorses ProcellaCOR treatment for Dudley Pond milfoil

WAYLAND — May 15, 2023 — Wayland Board of Health endorses ProcellaCOR treatment of 53.5 acres at Dudley Pond. The board voted unanimously Monday to back a Surface Water Quality Committee plan to apply the aquatic herbicide in June, four years after a 2019 application knocked back Eurasian water milfoil for "three plus seasons." Solitude Lake Management won the bid at roughly $44,000, with the Dudley Pond Association reimbursing the town 25 percent. Committee member Tom Holder said the herbicide has been a "magic bullet" against milfoil that defeated hand-pulling. The board required that no-swimming and pregnancy-advisory signs remain posted until FastTest results confirm residual herbicide is below one part per billion. Separately, Health Director Julia Junghanns previewed a draft cyanobacteria monitoring protocol for Lake Cochituate, where a 2021 visual bloom shut the town beach for the season and cost about 30 seasonal staff their jobs, according to Recreation Director Kathryn Brenner.