8334-R3_ML&P_LSLA_2023_SummerNewsletter_Web

Little Sebago Water Quality Report

to that information, the LSLA is investigating potential sources of phosphorus including sampling the streams entering the lake. The health of a lake depends on a very delicate balance in a complicated system. When one part of the lake system changes, everything else is impacted and must shift. For example, the temperature of the lake changes greatly with the different seasons. As this happens, the plants and animals living in the lake must adapt. The chemistry of the water itself then changes in response to both the temperature and the changes of the living things in the water. Your actions, on the lake and on your property, make a difference to the fragile balance of Little Sebago. Every little improvement you make will make it easier for the lake to maintain its healthy balance. Let’s all try to shift our lake in the positive direction. None of us like the algae that can appear in late summer or increased plant growth around our beaches. Each of us can help prevent that by limiting our phosphorus impact. A healthy balance takes all of us. Here are steps you can take to help Little Sebago: • Maintain your septic system • Prevent soil and sand from eroding into the lake • Avoid phosphorus containing fertilizers on your property • Keep a buffer of plants at the edge of the lake to act as a sponge for phosphorus • Never allow detergents or soaps in the lake • Pick up and dispose of animal waste when walking along roads and while ice fishing • Volunteer for the water quality team

in sufficient quantities. This is why it’s crucial to the health of our lake to limit the amount of phosphorus going into the lake. In 2020 due to increasing algae problems, the LSLA and St. Josephs College entered into a partnership to add monitoring of phosphorus and chlorophyll in Little Sebago. Grant funding was pursued to help defray the costs of this work. Students from the college and LSLA volunteers sample at the deepest part of each basin of the lake every two weeks from May until late September. The students analyze the samples and report results to the association. We now have two-summers worth of results that tell us more about the health of our lake. There are higher levels of phosphorus in the lake than there should be at times. In response

Jan Slack

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