Lake Kenosia will rise again

Among bodies of water, Lake Kenosia has an inferiority complex. No matter how many people love it, live on its shore or swim in its waters, it will never be Candlewood Lake which, as the biggest in the state, gets much more attention and resources. Kenosia is the New Milford of lakes. Everyone knows it’s there, but it is rarely the center of attention.

A group of committed Kenosia lovers, though, is working to make sure that the lake is preserved and enhanced on the west side of Danbury, a jewel that will continue to benefit not just residents who live next to it but visitors from throughout the region.

Much of the work is the kind of stuff that doesn’t make headlines.

One project of the Lake Kenosia Commission involves measuring sources of pollution into the lake and figuring out ways to capture them before they enter Kenosia’s waters.

Jack Kozuchowski is an environmental consultant who designed and ran a Kenosia pollution study. Working with a professor and students at Western Connecticut State University, he trudged into the woods and swampy areas around the lake after heavy rainstorms to measure phosphorous and nitrogen. Both contribute to the growth of weeds and algae in any lake. Too many weeds will clog the shallow reaches, including swim areas, making the lake less desirable.

The first round of testing showed a lot of phosphorous and nitrogen flow into the lake after storms, but the tests also raised more questions that Kozuchowski and the Lake Kenosia Commission would like to answer with more study.

Commission chair Regina Ofiero said the board unanimously agreed that Kozuchowski should pursue another round of testing and grants to pay for it.

Ultimately, the data will be useful in new landscaping where water flows into the lake. Well-crafted plantings and construction of swales and other elements that trap water until it can seep into the ground – called storm water treatment trains -- can prevent pollutants from reaching the lake.

The Lake Kenosia Commission has also sponsored a five-year effort to transform the Town Park from a sterile environment with a beach of grass, sand and goose poop into an open space vegetative buffer garden with flowering native plants that provide a show to the public and a habitat for butterflies, hummingbirds, dragonflies and damselflies.

All this may help Kenosia to one day escape its second-tier fate – which by the way was not its status when Kenosia was the only lake in town.

Kozuchowski, a history buff, relates that in the 19th century Danbury citizens had little to do but shop downtown, ice skate on Rogers Park Pond in the winter, visit the state fair in October and in the summer, take the trolley to Lake Kenosia and enjoy the amusement park there.

“Perhaps the one historical event that may have been a milestone of change for the west side was the construction of I-84, which changed the face of the Lake Kenosia watershed area from rural to commercial/residential,” Kozuchowski told me. “This coincided with the growth of auto travel, change of Danbury from a small town character to a mid-size city and the change of youth lifestyles. Lake Kenosia has evolved to be a little-known and little-used swimming hole on the west side.”

Nevertheless, Kozuchowski added, Lake Kenosia may be poised to rise again. The watershed studies and proposed stormwater management that the lake commission is spearheading will include “open space enhancement and environmental education zones” that provide the public with guided tours of how the buffer garden and pollutions systems work to preserve the environment.

Finishing touches to the garden will be installed in the spring and the Kenosia Commission will hold a grand opening in the fall to showcase the completed project.

So while Kenosia may never eclipse Candlewood as Danbury’s premier lake, it will once again be one of the nicest places in town to live near and visit.