Citizens Rally Against Herbicide Use in Hamilton Reservoir Amidst Multiple Delays
The initial herbicide application, scheduled for August 5, 2025, was put on hold when the Town of Holland Board of Health (BOH) recognized that the permit application omitted the identification of both public and private drinking water wells. Additionally, the Water Commissioner noticed that the permit application was missing several pages that identify the reservoir’s uses both locally and downstream. This omission caused significant concern as it potentially allowed the use of any chemical without thorough consideration. This oversight prompted the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) to request the removal of all non-drinking water approved herbicides from the treatment schedule, effectively stripping all but one chemical from the toxic herbicide treatment mix. Read more Despite these adjustments, proponents of the herbicide treatment rushed through and adjusted the treatment Order of Conditions (OOC), filing it with the Hampden County Registry of Deeds on Friday, August 8, 2025, in order to continue with the treatment. This highly irregular move, outside of Massachusetts General Law (MGL) and Code of Massachusetts Regulations (CMR) procedures, allowed the treatment to be turned back on, even though well locations were not properly identified and homeowners were not given the opportunity to opt out. Aggrieved parties’ right to appeal the new OOC within the ten day period allowed by law was ignored by the actors pushing for lake treatment. The situation escalated when the MassDEP, BOH, Select Board, and Springfield Superior Court received a citizen-generated petition and appeal package on August 11, 2025, urging the halt of the rescheduled herbicide application set for August 12, 2025. The petition highlighted the proximity of many shallow drinking water wells to the treatment areas, some as close as five feet, which are under the direct influence of the reservoir. The citizens’ petition was spearheaded by a resident, who, in a short time of mere days, rallied more than 300 residents to action. The Chairman of the BOH and the Town’s Water Commissioner expressed concerns about the lack of identification and safeguarding of these wells in the current permit application. “The BOH believes that the herbicide treatment should be put on hold, the permit application re-posted for a two-week public comment period, followed by further coordination to ensure all drinking water wells are identified and safeguarded,” the Chairman stated in an email to MassDEP and other stakeholders. A representative from MassDEP acknowledged the concerns and indicated that an investigation would be conducted. He advised the environmental engineering firm, Solitude Lake Management, to postpone the treatment until further notice. “Please don’t do the chemical treatment yet until MassDEP informs you that the investigation is over,” the representative wrote. Further complicating the situation, an email thread from August 5, 2025, revealed the persistent efforts of the Town of Holland LOC, chaired by Carrie Robertson, to push the MassDEP to approve the postponed herbicide treatment despite existing concerns. Robertson was adamant about moving forward, making several attempts to coordinate phone calls with MassDEP and Solitude in an effort to push the treatment forward. However, MassDEP’s representative firmly corrected Robertson, emphasizing the need to halt the treatment due to inaccuracies in the chemical license application materials. "“he treatment cannot be conducted because the chemical license application material such as the OOC are not accurate. We need to work with drinking water folks on this issue. Since this is an urgent matter, we are working on it now,” the representative stated in his email, effectively ending the LOC’s effort and underscoring the importance of addressing the inaccuracies before proceeding.
A representative from the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) added a point of reference regarding the appeal process. “Just as a point of reference, as this is an appeal of the Order of Conditions it would have had to have been appealed within 10 days of issuance. As such, that would have been the beginning of May so the appeal period is well over,” the representative noted in an email on August 11, 2025. A Senior Project Manager at Solitude Lake Management expressed confusion over the sudden halt, noting that the OOC had been issued by the Holland Conservation Commission on April 29, 2025, and the appeal period had passed. However, he agreed to comply with MassDEP’s directive. A lifelong resident and BOH member voiced his concerns about the impact of herbicide use on the community. “We have people who live out of town and have vacation homes here on the lake. They show up on weekends for three months a year, drink bottled water, and have expensive water treatment systems in their houses. They are a very vocal group who don’t like the weeds; they prefer not to rake the weeds. So they opt to just dump chemicals in, kill the weeds, then leave town in August. The full-time residents have to deal with the contaminated reservoir and groundwater for the rest of the nine months, most of those being young families with school-age children and no expensive whole-house water treatment systems,” the resident explained. This lifelong resident does remember a lake teeming with lily pads, turtles, water snakes and dragonflies growing up here as a youth. With the introduction of the decades-long ill-advised use of herbicide, all of this is gone. The resident believes this goes further than the shoreline. He has seen a large die-off of lady slippers, mountain laurel and Highbush Blueberry “Vaccinium Genus” (normally full of blueberries during the summer month) along the wooded shores. The most dramatic impact he noticed is the milkweed die-off, which has nearly eliminated the normally very high monarch butterfly population. His statement highlights the divide between seasonal visitors and year-round residents, emphasizing the long-term consequences faced by the latter which are increasingly faced the former’s need for sterile green lawns needing and getting (too much) fertilizer to participate in the ongoing competition “Who’s lawn is the greenest?” These fertilizers are mostly washed into the lake promoting the excessive growth of the unwanted invasive weeds mostly brought here with powerboats by the former. Click here to read about the problem and it‘s solution! The Hamilton Reservoir is part of the Quinebaug River system. The EPA Data Base “How’s My Waterway” “How’s My Waterway” lists Hamilton Reservoir as being fed by 4 water bodies “Stevens Brook”, “May Brook”, “Browns Brook” and “Mashapaug Lake”. All of these water-bodies carry an EPA rating of “GOOD” and are highlighted in green. On the other hand Hamilton Reservoir and everything flowing out of it carries an EPA designation of “IMPAIRED” in red. Clearly something is happening in or around Hamilton Reservoir that has dropped its rating over the last decade from “GOOD” to "IMPAIRED”.
click here, to get to the EPA website!
August 13, guest writer.