Boston Globe 8/12/10: The lake life. Cochituate’s sparkling waters beckon just beyond the Massachusetts Turnpike near Exit 13, tempting nearly 200,000 visitors each year to…

Wayland Town Crier 7/20/10: PCB cleanup begins in Natick's Pegan Cove. A large ring of yellow buoys floats on the surface of Pegan Cove, marking the area where contractors have started removing sediment contaminated with PCBs, left by an accident at the Soldier Systems Center 30 years ago. The PCBs were found in the section of Lake Cochituate just to the east of Natick Labs. They came from a transformer explosion in 1980 and got into the lake through a storm drain. Charter Environmental of Boston is handling the cleanup, with dredging work done by subcontractor Inner Space Dredging of Maine. The Defense Department is picking up the $2.8 million tab.

US Army 6/24/10: Sediment Cleanup on Lake Cochituate. Cleanup activities started on Lake Cochituate and continue into the summer for approximately 8 weeks, up to 6 days per week during daylight hours. Activities will include site preparation, mobilization, silt curtain installation, dredging, dewatering, water treatment, backfilling, monitoring, and site restoration. During the cleanup, boating access to and fishing within Pegan Cove will be restricted.

Boston Globe 5/25/10: Sucking up weeds in Lake Cochituate. In keeping with an agreement made between the town of Natick, the state and local environmental groups, divers have begun using a suction harvester to vacuum massive tangles of Milfoil weed from the bottom of Lake Cochituate rather than using herbicides to kill the weed. The agreement was struck earlier this year between the town, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Protect our Water Resources and the Friends of Lake Cochituate. Natick is contributing $12,500 to the project, while the state agency will spend $25,000, to remove milfoil from more than 5 acres.

Metrowest Daily News 5/26/10: Diver, DASH boat attack milfoil in Lake Cochituate. It may not be much to look at, but the platform on a floating pontoon near Cochituate State Park's boat ramp has made a dent over the past few days in the lake's invasive milfoil. The craft, known as a diver-assisted suction harvester or DASH boat, has been hired through a collaboration between the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), the Natick Conservation Commission and a citizens group called the Lake Cochituate Watershed Council.

Boston Globe 4/11/10: Settlement reached on treatment of Lake Cochituate in Natick for invasive weeds. After years of discussion to resolve how to treat invasive weeds in Lake Cochituate, the state agency that oversees the lake, Natick’s Conservation Commission, and a group of concerned citizens have reached a settlement to avoid further litigation. Instead of relying on chemical treatment such as the lake’s steward, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, originally wanted, a specialized boat that helps divers pull up weeds by hand will be used initially. Rental of the boat is being funded by $12,500 from the Conservation Commission and a matching $25,000 grant from the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Metrowest Daily News 3/26/10: DCR funds projects in Natick, Wayland, Upton. The grants include money to hire a company to run a diver-assisted suction harvester, or DASH, boat to remove invasive weeds in Natick's portion of Lake Cochituate.