Lake Waukewan & Winona Restoration Plan
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Did you know that water quality in Lake Waukewan and Lake Winona are already considered “impaired?” Both lakes earn that distinction for low dissolved oxygen levels. Lake Waukewan is also susceptible to cyanobacteria. What is going on? The exact cause is not known, but scientists believe that phosphorous is the culprit. Water-borne phosphorous comes from naturally occurring decay of plants as well as chemicals that get into the water from human activity such detergents and fertilizer. There are lots of ways that phosphorous gets into the lakes. The leading source is storm water runoff.
In 2005 the advisory committee on Lake Waukewan set up by the town of Meredith prepared a management plan to address water quality issues and has been working on its implementation. However, the 2005 plan lacked certain data that are needed to be able to win federal and state grants to manage storm water runoff — for example, a cleanup of Monkey Pond and new storm water controls. The Lake Winnipesaukee Association (LWA, www.winnipesaukee.org ) conducted a study that our members heard about from Pat Tarpey, executive director, and others at our 2012 annual meeting. Of three sub-watersheds studied, the Waukewan/Winona subwatershed has the greatest affect on water quality in the Big Lake. |
LWA was awarded a grant to create a restoration plan that includes the EPA’s “nine mandatory or key elements.” These elements are essential to obtain grants for major project restoration work. In September 2013 LWA conducted a competitive bid and hired FB Environmental Associates of Portland, ME, to develop the plan. The scope of work includes field work this summer to quantify and model the sources of phosphorus, make projections of future levels of phosphorous loading, prioritize the actions for reducing phosphorous, and define Best Management Practice (BMP) designs for remediation projects.
Matching funds and participation from the community were crucial to being awarded the grant. In 2012 Windy Waters Conservancy committed to fund this project with $5,000.00 from our Conservation Fund that will need to be paid in 2014. Pat Tarpey of the Lake Winnipesaukee Association and Forest Bell of FB Environmental Associates spoke in more detail about the restoration planning effort at our annual meeting on Saturday, July 12, 2014. |
More Information
For a copy of the complete plan please click here.
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