Newton Lake Algaecide Use on Hold

Plans to use Captain, a copper sulfate-based chemical, to rid Newton Lake of its overgrown algae have been suspended, according to a Camden County spokesman.

As part of a "short-term" plan to rid the Newton Lake system of its excessive algae, Camden County officials planned to use Captain, the trade name for the copper sulfate algaecide, to stall the algae's growth after physically removing large mats of algae from the lake. 

Now those plans are on hold, said Dan Keashen, Camden County spokesman, despite the approval from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to move forward. 

"I can tell you ultimately, we're just assessing the harvest," said Keashen of the work already completed to scoop algae from the lake. "If the harvest was impactful, then we're not going to use the copper sulfate."

Keashen says the county will observe algae growth during the next few months to determine whether previous efforts have made an impact on algae levels in the lake.

"The biggest thing is growth and how the growth is measured," he said. "We're not going to wait until the algae has returned to how it was prior, but we will be monitoring it and there will be monthly assessments." 

Plans to clean up the algae kicked off last month as part of a two-step process, which began with physically scooping out the algae mats.

Copper sulfate use was only intended to temporarily stunt the growth, county officials said. The mere mention of the chemical sparked public debate and resulted in a short-lived, online petition to ban its use.

Work last month to decimate the algae mats resulted in a noticeably clearer Newton Lake, which had been covered by the very thick algae beds. In the weeks since the algae removal operation ended, parts of Newton Lake are again blooming with algae, although not to the levels seen previously.

Camden County is also working on a long-term solution to prevent algae from choking Newton Lake again.