2026's summer start sees successes and challenges at White Pond

The weather has been perfect for White Pond's beaches and waters, but low tides and unenforced rules have brought trouble to the pond's fragile ecosystem. Here's a roundup of wins and losses at the end of June.

Win: The Town of Concord got the A-Pod in the water at the end of May. While this was later than ideal, it wasn't bad. The Town found some small cyanobacteria in the Thoreau Cove area of White Pond in mid-June as well as the A-Pod traps,, but this doesn't appear to have spread. Pond residents disagreed and said that the blooms were actually pretty big and more widespread than the Cove, but the Town and Higgins Environmental tested the A-Pod at the end of June and found no blooms. There haven't been any further reports.

Win: the Town of Concord has demonstrated a new responsiveness to citizen concerns, even responding to emails the same day in some cases. This is a welcome change from previous experiences of sending requests for help into the void.

Loss: less rainfall means more exposed beach areas in the Cove that are not monitored by lifeguards. We've seen a notable uptick in trash and personal towels left behind. A resident counted 40 visitors to the Cove in recent days including regular swimming where it isn't permitted.

Loss: a family was using an electric-powered jet ski at the pond, including in shallow fish-breeding areas and near swimmers. Does anyone actually need to say that this is a bad idea? It's also prohibited by Massachusetts regulation:

The 75-Acre Blanket Rule

If your kettle pond is under 75 acres in its natural state, all Personal Watercraft (PWCs)—which includes any form of jet ski—are automatically prohibited by Massachusetts state law under 323 CMR 2.13. Under state code, a PWC is explicitly defined by its design (sitting, standing, or kneeling on a craft propelled by a water jet pump) rather than its fuel type.

We encourage anyone seeing jet skis with any fuel type to call local police to request their removal.

Loss: there's an invasion of Asian clams in the pond. These bivalves outcompete native species, reproduce rapidly and can survive at lower temperatures than other species. The good news is that they are edible - they go pretty well in stir-fry dishes after soaking in salted water for an hour to purge out sand.