Lake Quinsigamond Commission awards $44,072 fanwort treatment contract to Water and Wetlands

SHREWSBURY -- April 29, 2026, Lake Quinsigamond Commission approves $44,072 weed treatment contract and debates wakeboat restrictions. The commission unanimously awarded a fanwort herbicide treatment contract for Flint Pond's East Basin to Water and Wetlands, the lowest of three bids that also came in at $53,900 and $61,210, after state purchasing rules required a formal competitive process because the project exceeded $10,000. A separate $9,996 hydrological raking contract for sacred lotus removal remains in procurement limbo after the town's purchasing office flagged that the sole bid fell only $4 below the formal bid threshold. In an extended discussion of wakeboat use, commissioners reviewed a 500-foot shoreline buffer map that effectively shows no area of Lake Quinsigamond meets both the setback and the required 25-foot depth to legally operate a ballast-assisted wake vessel, with one commissioner noting the vessels' ballast tanks pose a significant invasive-species transport risk. The commission also debated whether its charter gives it authority to require, not merely request, dock registration fees from Newton Pond residents in Boylston, a question commissioners agreed to research further before scheduling a public hearing.