HARTFORD, Vt. (AP) — A landowners’ association in Vermont wants to use a new herbicide to help control an invasive aquatic plant in a man-made lake but town officials have concerns about the proposed chemical treatment.

The Quechee Lakes Landowners Association in Hartford filed an application with the state this spring to use ProcellaCOR to stop the spread of Eurasian watermilfoil in Lake Pinneo, The Valley News reported.

Quechee Lakes is comprised of homes and two golf courses, tennis courts and swimming pool near the New Hampshire state line.

Ken Lallier, the Quechee Club’s property manager, said it would take one day to apply the herbicide and that it poses no threat to other plants or swimmers. The association has tried other methods of controlling the weeds, including having divers pull them out by hand but said “it’s way beyond that now.”

“If we do nothing to Lake Pinneo, the entire surface of the water will have weeds on it,” he said this week, warning that swimmers could get tangled up and anglers will have a hard time casting lines beyond the weeds.

But Richard Kenney, the the town’s chief water system operator, submitted a letter late last month saying it’s unclear that the lake’s liner, which was repaired in 2013, is still fully intact, the newspaper reported. He’s concerned that the chemical could leach into the groundwater and into a town well.

The Department of Environmental Conservation plans to respond to the town’s letter by late July, said Oliver Pierson, the lakes and ponds program manager at the Vermont Watershed Management Division.

Newsletter