Save the Lakes

The "Wild Bill" Swim Challenge mission is also an environmental one, to keep the local pond waters clean and sustainable for years to come.

Proceeds from the 2022 inaugural swim challenge benefited the Quamquasit Pond Phosphorus Inactivation Project that was  approved and funded by the Federal Clean Water Act Section 319 Grant Program with a matching grant in the amount of $225,000 toward the total project budget of $375,000.  An additional $150,000 is being contributed by the towns of East Brookfield ($15,000), Brookfield ($25,000), Sturbridge ($55,000), and the Newton YMCA/Camp Day ($5,000), with the balance of the total budget coming from QQLA through local fundraising efforts.

The Town of Sturbridge, which is managing the project, is working with the Quaboag Quamcumquasit Lake Association (QQLA), the ESS Environmental Group and Solitude Lake Management to conduct an alum treatment targeting deep phosphorus-rich sediment in South Pond that could be completed as early as Spring 2023.

In simple terms, the project is expected to increase water clarity, improve cold deep-water fish habitat for trout, reduce future risk due to algal blooms and protect the lake from further water quality degradation.  The project will also help reduce phosphorus in Quaboag Pond and the Chicopee River watershed.

Dr. William "Wild Bill" Yorzyk, for whom the swim challenge is named, was a founding member of the QQLA which will work to sustain the waters that he loved.  He would be thrilled with this event and its local environmental mission.