An environmental concern in Lyndeborough appears to have subsided for now, as water quality at the town’s recreation site has returned to “good quality” in advance of the summer season.
Goss Park on Forest Road in Wilton serves both towns and boasts a competitive swimming program for area youngsters, but the water had become unhealthy. Lyndeborough Town Administrator Geoffrey Allen said Tuesday that recent testing at Goss Park showed the water to have improved and to now be of “good quality.”
“We’re monitoring water samples on it, and a few weeks ago, they came back clean,” said Allen, adding that E. coli is not present in the water this spring.
In 2023, the town report noted that “the town was experiencing an E. coli problem in some of Lyndeborough’s brooks and streams, which travel downstream and over the town border. We immediately notified the Town of Wilton regarding our findings, which led to water quality analysis at Goss Park. The water test detected elevated levels of E. coli in the swimming area.”
The report went on to explain that “The problem appears to have been made worse due to the heavy amounts of rainfall in 2023.”
“One test showed that the source of the contamination was human,” said Allen, although the prospect of animal sources was not ruled out. Eventually, a source of the pollution was identified as a septic system on a property in Lyndeborough.
In 1949, Jennie M. Goss donated 14 acres to to help create the a site for the Wilton-Lyndeborough Youth Center that would be available for “community recreation use,” according to the location’s website. At a selectmen’s meeting earlier this spring, the board announced that repairing the septic system is not within the property owner’s means.
“The septic system was determined to be in failure by the N.H Department of Environmental Services (DES) and adjudicated by the court,” Select Board Chair Mark Chamberlain stated. “The owner has failed to replace the system as ordered by the court. The state has no authority to replace the system, but the town does. Per RSA, the town must ‘appropriate’ the funds.”
A warrant article was put to voters in March seeking $50,000 to repair or replace the septic system. The article failed.
“The matter is still being litigated,” said Allen, adding that there’s not a lot that the town can do at this point. “We’ve been monitoring the water, there and elsewhere in town, and will continue to monitor the water quality. Right now it’s good.”
Park Director Georgie Mogavero stated that the Goss board has put a more-rigorous testing schedule in place and installed a water-tight gate at the inlet on Stony Brook to shu t down flow into the pond during heavy rains and when E. coli numbers are high.
“My goal and that of the board is to keep Goss a safe and healthy place for years to come,” Mogavero stated.