I am very concerned about the degradation of Owasco Lake in recent years, and the situation is continuously getting worse. The main cause of this is the amount of phosphorous being discharged into Owasco Lake from the village of Groton's Wastewater Treatment plant.

This year the weed growth is so bad you are afraid to go swimming in the lake, and the smell of weeds washing up on shore is so bad it makes you choke. Several lakefront owners cannot get their boats out on the lake due to heavy weed growth. Not only that but fishing used to be good in Owasco Lake, but now it's terrible. The most important concern is that Owasco Lake is the source of drinking water for over 40,000 people. We need to clean up and protect Owasco Lake now.

Just prior to last month's meeting of several hundred concerned people about cleaning up Owasco Lake, the NYSDEC announced that a draft “SPDES” permit would reduce the amount of phosphorous from the Groton Wastewater Treatment plant into Owasco Lake, from the current limit of four pounds a day to two pounds a day.

This was great news at the time but soon afterward it was learned that the permit did not require the reduction of phosphorous until 2012, four years from now. This is totally unacceptable.

This is not fair to the 40,000 people that drink water from Owasco Lake and the many more people that care about the protection and clean up of Owasco Lake.

Immediate action on the reduction of phosphorous into Owasco Lake from the Groton Wastewater Treatment plant has to be done now.

I thank you in advance for your consideration in looking into this matter.

Gary A. Polinsky

Auburn