Sometime Thursday, October 1 or Friday, October 2, jersey barriers will be placed at the Route 58 boat ramp and the Lingan Street/4th Avenue boat ramp in order to prevent easy access to the ramps. This is being done because, despite having signage up indicating that West Monponsett Pond is unsafe to use for recreational purposes (swimming, boating, fishing), many people have continued to use the Ponds. The barriers will be removed if two consecutive weekly samples show algae counts of less than 70,000 per milliliter. The counts this year have been significantly less than last year but still above this limit so the advisory has been in place since the middle of July.
While the Town is putting up barriers at these two locations, there are other locations for which the Town does not have jurisdiction and there are a number of residents with docks or other ways of obtaining access to West Monponsett Pond. The Town will not be patrolling West Monponsett Pond, ticketing or fining anyone, but wanted to discourage residents and non-residents from using the Pond due to health concerns.
East Monponsett Pond will continue to be open for all uses.
Please contact Charlie Seelig, Halifax Town Administrator, with questions at 781-294-1316.