Volunteers clean debris at Lake Takanassee PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Brookdale Community College student Mike McIntyre tries to get a piece of garbage out of the lake during a cleanup of Lake Takanassee in Long Branch by the Monmouth University chapter of New Jersey Community Water Watch on March 1. At Right: Monmouth University student Candice Jahn of Toms River carries debris collected from Lake Takanassee. LONG BRANCH - Volunteers gathered at Lake Takanassee Saturday to help rid the waterway of debris and pollution. The March 1 cleanup was planned by Monmouth University's chapter of N.J. Community Water Watch in collaboration with Brookdale Community College's chapter of Water Watch. Fifty-three people from various organizations helped to clean the lake, according to Katie Feeney,Monmouth University campus organizer for Water Watch. Volunteers included university students, the N.J. Chapter of the Sierra Club, Surf Rider and four students from Neptune High School's Team Green. "Lake Takanassee is very close toMonmouth University. In fact, theWhale Pond Brook, which we are working to protect on campus, flows into this coastal lake," said Feeney after the event. "The lake, like many coastal lakes in Monmouth County, is severely impaired by overdevelopment and pointless roadside litter. "By involving both the campus and the community, we can raise awareness through our cleanup about the poor water quality in our state and encourage people to be involved and actively protect the waterways in their own backyards," Feeney said. Monmouth University President Paul G. Gaffney II helped clean debris from the lake at the event. "There are millions of pounds of debris that go into the ocean every year," Gaffney said. "And about 90 percent comes from humans. About 30 percent, believe it or not, is from cigarettes." In addition to cigarettes, volunteers found various other items polluting the lake, including water bottles, plastic shopping bags and Styrofoam, according to Feeney. Monmouth University freshman Candace Jahn pulled a boogie board, three bicycles and a gerbil aquarium from the lake, according to Feeney. According to a biological assessment of the Whale Pond Brook watershed conducted by the Urban Coast Institute's assistant director, John A. Teidemann, and his research associate Jessica Lisa, Lake Takanassee has a large amount of pollution. An evaluation of the aquatic invertebrates within the watershed showed highly pollutant tolerant invertebrates, like scuds and worms, were able to survive. The lake has to be stocked with trout every year because it is hard for other species of fish to survive in the polluted water, according to Feeney, who said urbanization is the main cause for pollution in Lake Takanassee. For more information on Monmouth University's chapter of N.J. Community Water Watch, contact Feeney at Monmouth@ njwaterwatch.org.