Highland Lake to be treated again for milfoil

WINSTED — During the Board of Selectmen’s budget hearing on Wednesday, April 6, Mayor Candy Perez said that Highland Lake will be treated this year for milfoil.According to Perez, the last time the lake was treated for milfoil was two years ago.“The milfoil problem is back,” Perez said. “Because we didn’t treat it last year, it’s back to being over a large area. We did not treat it last year and it should have been done.”Pat Masucci, a member of the Highland Lake Association, confirmed that this year the lake will be treated.“It does tend to pick up and grow again, but if it’s done routinely every year it becomes less and less of a problem,” Masucci said. The milfoil that the lake has suffered from in the past few years is the invasive Eurasian milfoil.According to Masucci, the more the milfoil grows the more of a hassle it is to those who use the lake.“It becomes much more difficult for people to swim, the boats that use the water pick up the weeds and the clarity of the water goes down,” she said.In the past few years the lake was treated with the herbicide Diquat (Diquat bromide).When the lake was treated with the herbicide, it was closed for one day to both swimmers and boaters.Masucci said she did not know if the same herbicide would be used again to treat the lake.“It’s really up to the town,” she said.