Keith Williams, a volunteer with the Highland Lake Association, has been collecting water samples from the lake for years. File photo
FALMOUTH— A 10-year, $1.3 million plan aims to protect Highland Lake by targeting phosphorus and finding the cause of algae blooms that harm water quality.
The collaborative plan implemented in conjunction with Windham outlines the details, Highland Lake Leadership Team chairman Dennis Brown said, but is also instrumental in getting grant money for vital projects.
“This is a milestone, this management plan, but to implement that, it needs funding,” Town Manager Nathan Poore said at the June meeting where it was adopted.
Efforts to conserve the lake for recreation and wildlife began over 20 years ago Brown said, when water clarity and quality was so poor the lake was added to the state’s impaired water list in 1990.
While efforts to clean the lake, the only body of water in the county to fall in the category, had it taken off the list in 2010, Brown said continued work is important in stopping the same problems from happening again.
Highland Lake covers 623 acres in both Falmouth and Windham; the watershed that feeds into the lake is 8.5 square miles, according to the Highland Lake Association.
The leadership team, formed in 2018, was charged with creating the plan, and will now help implement it. Members include three representatives each from Falmouth and Windham, as well as five members of the Highland Lake Association, an important partnership between towns that Brown said can be rare in conservation efforts.
“We spent a tremendous amount of time looking at all of this information and how projects moving forward would impact the lake and how we could preserve the lake,” said Windham Town Councilor David Douglass, who is also the former chairman of the Planning Board. “One of my big concerns was existing infrastructure like septic tanks or other items, those were equal threats, and all of those were important in resolving the algae bloom and what had been going on as well.”
The plan will educate people on ways to avoid excess phosphorus or mitigate it through landscaping and planting, Brown said.
Phosphorus, a chemical, is known to harm water clarity. Excess phosphorus cuts oxygen down in water bodies, which speeds up the growth of algae and plant life, according to plan documents.
It’s hoped grant funding will be available for major repairs to roads around the lake that are deteriorating and allowing phosphorus to wash into the water.
“If you have a $70,000 project, $10,000 from the town won’t get it done, so that’s where the funding comes in under the (319) Grant program,” Brown said.
The 319 Grant is under the umbrella of the Clean Water Act and affords hundreds of millions per year towards conservation efforts nationwide, with a focus on getting money to state and local conservation efforts.
“The (grant) application has been done, and now we have some targets we need to address,” Brown said. “A big part of (the plan) is (finding) the cause of blooms that showed up in 2014 in late July early August, which have consistently appeared in that time frame for last six years.”
Phase 1, beginning immediately and running through 2023, will partly focus on fixing and stabilizing public and private roads around the lake, which will include about 15 sites between Falmouth and Windham. Total construction in Phase 1 is projected at roughly $200,000, with $150,00 for road work and the remainder earmarked for conservation. Plans are still being made for specific road repairs, but Brown said restoring Swan Road in Windham, which will cost about $70,000, is now in the final stages.
Highland Lake officials have been teaming up with the Department of Environmental Protection, the University of New Hampshire and the University of Southern Maine, among other agencies, to figure out the cause of the algal blooms. Brown said there is one remaining hypothesis that the blooms are caused by alewives, but more work needs to be done.
“We are zeroing in on the issue, and we have one hypothesis that matches all the data which we will try and prove,” Brown said.
Alewives began wild runs through the lake in 2012, according to plan documents, and it’s theorized that the fish increase the presence of phosphorus, and by changing the food chain they may have worsened it.
If the hypothesis is proven, Highland Lake officials plan to create a dam management committee to aid alewives in migrating out of the lake.
The second phase, set for 2024-2026, will focus on community outreach on sustainable practices to reduce phosphorus.
The third phase, from 2027-2030, will revisit construction sites and see if more work is needed, with $120,000 set aside for any major projects.
Money has also been allotted in all phases to advocate for potential ordinance changes among the two towns to protect the lake, along with monitoring progress made.
“It’s important to note this is a living (document),” Brown said. “We will be working on this over time, if we come across things we need to address.”
Douglass said it’s only the beginning, and he’d like to see this protection span other water bodies in the area.
“I think it’s a good start, but there is always more work and modifications to be done to fine tune it and make it better for the lake, and we need to look at all the bodies of water in the region,” Douglass said.
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