We need healthy choices to control aquatic weeds

Pesticides accumulate in our bodies and, over time, all the minor, but very many, exposures add up.

So, even though we may be exposed to a chemical at an EPA-approved level, it is the continuous exposures that cause diseases as well as possible infertility. Long-term effects can occur from repeated exposures to a chemical at levels not high enough to make you immediately sick.

This is the problem we all face today because of the many, many chemicals we are exposed to in our water, our air, our food, our clothing, etc. The local aquatic herbicides sprayed in six locations in our lake recently may not affect us today or even tomorrow, but, down the road, we would be better off limiting our exposures today to a minimum.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well as its directing agencies — the Environmental Protection Agency and Idaho Department of Environmental Quality — will tell you to not worry about poisons in the water because the amounts are at an "approved" level for exposure. But maybe you have a compromised immune system, or maybe you are elderly, or maybe you are pregnant, or maybe you just have too many exposures in your life already.

I am not saying that we ought to just let the invasive aquatic species take over our lake. But we must find and implement ways to manage these lake weeds without harming ourselves or all the other creatures that depend on the lake. We must take action before it is too late.

As of May 2023, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a 10-year program to control invasive aquatic weeds. Let’s make healthy and sustainable choices.

MERYL KASTIN

Sandpoint