The Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has approved the new Watershed-Based Plan for North Pond. This 10-year plan outlines how the community will combat the summer algal blooms by decreasing the high levels of phosphorus (the nutrient that feeds algal blooms) in the lake water.
Half of the four thousand pounds of phosphorus that enters North Pond every year comes from internal loading. In other words, the phosphorus is coming up out of the sediment at the bottom of the lake during the summer.
The second biggest source of phosphorus comes from the watershed. 31% of the phosphorus that enters North Pond (over 1,300 lbs a year) is being washed in from the surrounding land. That's a lot of dirt and fertilizer!
The watershed-based plan puts forward a series of steps to cut the phosphorus load in half by 2033. Actions include things like planting buffers, decreasing erosion, and replacing old septic systems to decrease the external load and applying an alum treatment to address the external load.
There is a long way to go to get North Pond's water quality back on track, but having this new plan in place is a huge step in the right direction.