Moosup pond has some unwanted guests

Moosup (WTNH) - On the surface, Moosup Pond looks pristine but lurking below - an unwanted visitor has moved in.
A weed is attacking Moosup Pond and it's a tough one to contain but the town is trying to get rid of it.

"It's very agrressive and what it will do it will actually take over a pond," Jeff Megin said.

Jeff Megin and his neighbors say in the past few years they've seen more and more of this weed which they now know is Variable Leaf Water Milfoil. Some even rake the lake to remove it from in front of their homes.

"The big thing is when you go fishing everytime you throw a line out you have your fish hook filled up with weeds," Elmer Norden, of Moosup, said.

It also gets tangled up in boat propellers and around swimmers. Milfoil is not native to these ponds and lakes but has become a permanent resident in many.

"It's a problem in a lot of Connecticut actually," Tom Ottilidge, of Canterbury, said. "Hitch hikes in on the back of boats."

Ottilidge, a fisherman, says he's seen worse.

The reason this weed is so invasive is that while it may be growing on one side of the pond it moves with the waves of the water and grows again wherever it ends up.

It has now taken over almost 40 acres of this 90 acre Plainfield pond. Before it got worse residents took action.

"What we had to do was treat it with a herbacide," Megin said.

Using town money and a state grant totalling $15,000, an herbicide was spread throughout the pond to kill the weed. There are some signs it's working.

I've seen a big difference already," Norden said. "Like over there, there's a few lilly pads it will probably take care of those too."

But the Millfoil is still in many parts of this pond and only time will tell if the treatment really does uproot this growing problem.

"I think it's going to be okay," Ottilidge said. "I think the milfoil treatment is probably working."