Wayland water committee approves up to $8,400 more for Heard Pond harvesting

WAYLAND — July 12, 2023 — Wayland committee approves up to $8,400 more for Heard Pond water chestnut harvesting. The Surface Water Quality Committee voted unanimously July 12 to authorize seven additional harvesting days with Solitude Lake Management at $1,200 per day, on top of $9,900 already contracted. Member Thomas J. Largy told the committee crews are halfway through the first sweep and have already pulled more than 1,800 plants — versus 696 for all of last year — and traced the surge to a 2016 outbreak that produced an estimated 50,000 plants. The committee also retroactively approved roughly $43,000 in Solitude invoices for ProcellaCOR treatment of Dudley Pond, where volunteer Norm Arrow reported the milfoil is "pretty much" gone and no supplemental application is needed. Wayland's new mechanical harvester began work this week on Dudley Pond, clearing a cove Arrow called "the best that cove has looked in decades."