What Next for the Green Upon the Water?

Great and Long Ponds, like many lakes across the country, face problems of declining water quality. Phosphorous is the main culprit. Phosphorous comes with nearly everything that washes into the water, from septic tanks, to lakeshore lawns, to each soil particle eroded from camp roads. Our human habits over the decades have upped the amount a little more each year. When enough phosphorous accumulates, minute organisms such as algae, and cyanobacteria, thrive and give us a taste of the green-upon-the-water that we so detest.

The definitive solution is to roll back the clock with new patterns of living and a new sense of responsibility for the health of the lakes. We have found no simple quick fix, but because of the call for action, the BLA has intensively studied methods used around the country for anything that might help.

Two approaches hold some promise: not for a long term cure, but for some local effect where blooms are the most insistent. These are scheduled for testing this spring and summer if we can meet regulatory and safety standards. The cost is estimated at approximately $50,000.

Commercial ultrasound machines kill the group of organisms to which gloeotrichia belongs. Used effectively in small artificial ponds, these devices may have some use locally in lakes, but little is known about results in open water. Therefore, our tests will look beyond the Gloeotrichia to assess the safety for humans and other lake inhabitants. We must not trade other harm for our own comfort.

A simpler, less expensive, intuitively safer method has been found for some spots where the lakeshore terrain is suitable. In those places, it may be possible to pump scum safely onto wooded areas where it can decompose without bothering humans. The objective is to remove the distasteful biomass and at least a small amount of phosphorous.

These tests are being done in response to members’ desire that we explore all avenues of remediation. They will not in themselves provide a lasting cure. The cure will be long and arduous.

The cure will require all of us in the watershed to cut back the phosphorous loading of our valued lakes. Nothing else is so important. There is no substitute.

Therefore, this summer’s plans for testing should be put in perspective with the continuing BLA effort to put in place a comprehensive Watershed Management Plan in collaboration with BRCA’s Lake Trust, Maine’s DEP and Colby College. The plan will emphasize:

• Reducing phosphorous input to the lakes by:
  • Identifying sources of phosphorous contributions to the lakes so that loading can be prevented or mitigated
  • Expansion of the LakeSmart Program offered by the DEP
  • Advocating vigorous observance of the new State ban on Phosphorous fertilizers
  • Education and enforcement of existing shoreline land use codes.
• Continued search for and testing of specific ways to control cyanobacteria blooms
• Monitoring of relevant, scientifically valid land and water data throughout the watershed
• Comprehensive, geographically identified management of those data
• Dissemination of the resulting information to the wide variety of users in the watershed so that all may contribute to the protection and improvement of our Lands and Lakes.

As we move forward, we will keep you informed here in the newsletter and on the website.