PEABODY - After a decade of watching West Peabody's Crystal Lake slowly disappear beneath tons of silt and weeds, the Legislature is poised to save it - with the help of some invisible friends.

The House of Representatives has overridden Gov. Mitt Romney's veto of $400,000 earmarked for rehabilitating the picturesque lake, which sits alongside Lowell Street. State Rep. Joyce Spiliotis, who spearheaded the drive on Beacon Hill to get the money, reports that it won the necessary two-thirds vote on Thursday.

Now, it's up to the Senate to make the bill law.

"And it's safe to assume that the Senate will override it, as well," said Senate Majority Leader Fred Berry, D-Peabody, on Friday.

Once passed, however, it's unlikely that the original plan for Crystal Lake - dredging - will be used.

Instead, according to Ward 6 City Councilor Mike Zellen, officials are leaning toward invisible, weed-eating microbes to get rid of most of the organic matter clogging the bottom.

Once a spot for recreational activities like swimming and fishing, the lake is now too shallow to support either.

"You see all the vines and lily pads and weeds choking it up," Zellen said.

In addition, tons of soil is said to have drained into the waterway due to runoff from decades of local development.

It's a condition that has environmental ramifications, Zellen said, as that water eventually drains into the Ipswich River, vital to the North Shore's water supply. "It's not just a beautification process. ... We're going to lose the waterway."

The microbes won't do much about the silt, Zellen said.

"But 50 percent of what's at the bottom of this lake is food for these microbes," he said.

Once that matter is gone, the lake will be deeper, allowing fishing and canoeing. Moreover, recreational activities will open the door to the use of Community Preservation Committee funds in rehabilitating the land.
Zellen envisions a walkway around the circumference of the lake.

Before anything is done, Zellen said, Mayor Michael Bonfanti has pledged to spend up to $25,000 to test the use of microbes, a process said to have been used successfully across the country.

"We would cordon off a portion of Crystal Lake (about 200 square feet) and do a test," Zellen said.

He cautioned against concerns about the introduction of microbes, explaining that they will die once the vegetation is gone - a process estimated to take two years. Moreover, the same microbes already exist in the water - albeit in much smaller numbers.

Finally, economics is a factor in relying on the microbes. The city had asked for $800,000 to do this job but only got half that amount. The microbe method, Zellen said, "is far less expensive."