SWANTON — In Roger and Judy George’s backyard, it’s difficult to ignore the stench.
The couple spends about half the year in a cozy log cabin at the end of a long driveway on Maquam Shore Road in Swanton. Down a staircase from the back lawn, their property leads straight into Lake Champlain.
But the Georges and several neighbors on the northern shore of Maquam Bay say their summer access to the lake is increasingly impeded by thick swaths rotting weeds, which sit atop the shallow water in a malodorous concoction they refer to as “muck.”
The muck’s potent, manure-like smell reaches all around the Georges’ property, and seeps inside the cabin when they open the windows.
Stepping in it has left Roger George’s toenails stained for almost a week.
“You’re fearful of walking through it,” he said, “because it’s so disgusting.”
Several Maquam Shore Road residents said they have been asking Swanton town officials for help clearing the rotten plants along their properties for more than a year, but so far have received little response and are growing frustrated.
Al Norman, whose family has owned a seasonal camp for six decades several houses down from the Georges, said his grandchildren have told him they don’t want to swim in the lake because they would have to wade through muck.
He said about a dozen households signed a letter to the selectboard last year, detailing their concerns with local water quality. Town officials have said that since the state owns the lake, there is little they can do to clean it, Norman said.
“The town of Swanton,” he said, “has been inert.”
Some residents have contrasted this with neighboring St. Albans Town, which Roger George said allocates money for weed cleanup — including money for a group called the St. Albans Area Watershed Association that harvests the plants from St. Albans Bay.
According to the watershed association, the weeds are caused by excessive phosphorus loads in the lake and have a nutrient content comparable to composted cow manure.
If they are not removed, the weeds decompose, add more organic matter on the bottom of the lake, feed future weed growth and ultimately promote algae blooms.
The muck has likely been made worse recently by low water levels in Lake Champlain. Low water can lead to increased temperatures and reduced oxygen in the lake, which in turn lead to fish kills, odors and more exposed muck along the shoreline.
Swanton town officials contacted for this story did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.
Hard sell
Multiple Maquam Shore Road residents said property sales in the neighborhood tend to occur only in colder months, when the effects of excessive weed buildup are not pronounced.
One neighbor who was experiencing financial difficulties during a divorce needed to sell her property at the height of the summer, Roger George said, but ended up losing it because she was unable to find a buyer.
Some sellers have appeared to mislead buyers about the summer water quality in the area.
Joe Fobert bought a retirement home on Maquam Shore Road in April. When he came to view the property in March, the lake was frozen over.
“I asked the previous seller what the water was like in the summer, and his one comment was, ‘Well, it can get low, depending on the snowfall,’” Fobert said. “But not, ‘Oh, and it also gets this putrid smell.’”
The Georges also bought their home in April, though that was back in 2007. They were never told about the shallow water or muck buildup during the summer, either.
Fobert said he has been frustrated by what he sees as Swanton’s inaction on the poor water quality along Maquam Shore Road.
He has asked the town selectboard to apply for a state Department of Environmental Conservation grant that could help mitigate the weed growth — a step that was recommended to him by a state official — but said he has not received a reply.
Residents said they’ve also noticed the impact of muck at Swanton Beach, at the northern end of the neighborhood.
“There’s never families with young children, and swimming, and picnickers,” Roger George said. “Because I think the word is out — it’s unusable.”
George and Norman filed property value grievances with the Swanton town listers in April, arguing their land should be assessed at lower rates because of the muck. The listers denied their grievances in July, prompting both homeowners to file appeals with the town’s Board of Civil Authority. That appeal was denied earlier this month.
Both homeowners said they think town officials did not adequately consider the impact of water quality on their property values.
“No one will offer us the kind of money that the town is assessing us at,” Norman said. “We’re paying premium taxes for less-than-premium water.”
Clarification: This story was updated to more accurately describe the muck along the lakeshore.
