2011 Watershed Survey on Parker, David, and Tilton Ponds

During the month of May, many friends and supporters of the 30 Mile River Watershed Association have joined in a three-pond watershed survey designed to locate sources of soil erosion and runoff that might be damaging to water quality.

A watershed is the total area of land that drains into a particular lake, river, stream, or ocean. Watersheds drain (or “shed”) water into lakes through streams and ditches, directly over the ground surface, or through groundwater. Activities that take place a long distance away from a lake, but still within its watershed, can have as much impact on water quality as those that occur along its shoreline. As areas around lakes are developed, lake water quality usually declines. The decrease in forest cover and an increase in hard surfaces (roofs, roads, parking lots, driveways, etc.) lead to more fast- moving stormwater runoff. As this runoff travels down through the watershed, it can cause soil erosion and picks up various pollutants, like phosphorus, and carries them to the lake through ditches and streams. This pollution can cause excessive plant growth, algal blooms, and murky water. Planning for the event began early in the year and by the end of April, 26 volunteers and 10 technical advisors gathered to participate in a morning indoor training session and then broke into groups to begin a survey of the individual watersheds of Parker, David and Tilton Ponds, documenting potentially troublesome areas. Earlier in the month, all residents in the targeted areas had received a letter, explaining the intent of the survey. They were given the opportunity to have their properties excluded from the survey. The properties to be excluded were clearly marked on the maps used by the volunteers.

Volunteers walked up and down roads and along shorelines, looking for and documenting areas where run-off traces were clearly visible. The surveying will continue until all designated areas of the three ponds have been surveyed. The data gathered will be coordinated into a final report to be used to analyze the pollution sources to the ponds. Once trouble spots can be identified there may be ways to find reasonable solutions to reduce the amount of soil erosion and phosphorus draining into the lakes.

Most of the volunteers reside in Fayette, Vienna, Chesterville, Mount Vernon or Wayne, some living in shore land homes, others residing in town.

The 30 Mile River Watershed Association is coordinating the project in partnership with the Parker Pond Association, the Basin-David-Tilton Ponds Association, the Towns of Chesterville, Fayette, Mount Vernon and Vienna, the Kennebec County Soil and Water Conservation District and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Funding for this project, in part, was provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act. The funding is administered by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection in partnership with EPA.

Watershed Survey of Parker, David and Tilton Ponds

Volunteers working the first day of the survey participated in a daylong training/survey. First came the morning indoor classroom training where various technical advisors demonstrated how to use the documentation forms. Ample time was allowed to view and discuss of past survey examples to assure that participants knew the methods they were expected to use as they documented their findings.

Teams of 3 – 4 participants were formed and each group, along with a technical advisor, was assigned to a particular sector of the areas to be surveyed. Each group received a detailed map of its sector, including identification of those properties whose owners did not wish to be surveyed. Technical advisors distributed survey documentation sheets a GPS and signs showing special sector identification numbers and demonstrated how they were to be used.

Volunteers and technical advisors sign in for the beginning of the daylong watershed survey.

After several hours of classroom discussion volunteers were ready to go. They had been warned that they should come with appropriate footwear and clothing for walking around the watershed – the survey occurs rain or shine. Lucky for all, the day was a beautiful, bug-less spring day.

Armed with bag lunch, water, bug spray, and sunscreen along with Clipboard, digital camera, and GPS volunteers set out to survey erosion sites in the watersheds of Parker, David and Tilton Ponds,

Locating Sources of Pollution

Lake pollution is caused, in great part, by “nonpoint source pollution” (NPS pollution)—pollution that is picked up by stormwater runoff somewhere within the land surrounding a lake (the watershed) and then carried into the lake. One way to visualize how NPS pollution works is to think of rain and the resulting runoff as a giant broom that sweeps over the watershed. The broom sweeps all the watershed debris into the lake through streams that run into the lake. Some of that debris is carried through culverts along roadways and unless diverted effectively along the way can eventually end up in a lake or stream.

A watershed includes all the land that surrounds a lake and that drains water, through streams, ditches, or directly over the ground’s surface, into the lake. Even though a watershed may extend many miles away from the lake itself, the watershed is actually part of the lake ecosystem, and the two cannot be separated.

Here volunteers Dan Witherill, Diana McLaughlin and Waine Whittier begin tracing the water flow from a culvert along the Sandy River Road in Fayette.

Nonpoint Source Pollution (NPS), also known as polluted storm water runoff, is one of today’s biggest threats to healthy lakes, rivers, streams, estuaries and wetlands. When it rains or the snow melts, the water running off our driveways, parking lots, yards, farm fields, forestry operations and industrial sites carries with it small hitch-hiking pollutants. The pollutants include soil particles, nutrients from fertilizers or animal waste, bacteria from failing septic systems or animal waste, toxics from dripped or spilled petroleum products or household hazardous waste all washed during a storm event into your local water way.

Volunteers were expected to finish surveying any remaining parts of their sectors within three weeks of the training/survey day. Once volunteers completed their sectors, they submitted survey forms and photos to the 30 Mile River Watershed Association Coordinator.

Along the Shore

The clear waters of our region’s beautiful lakes and streams are a fragile resource – one worth protecting. Whatever happens in a lake watershed can affect the lake Lakes are sensitive and fragile water resources. One reason for this is that, when compared to streams, rivers, and coastal waters, the water exchange or flushing rate of lakes is very slow.

Susan Pienta, Linda Stanton and Misty Beck document a suspicious area along the shore of David Pond where run off from the camp road above has made its way to the shore.

Pollutants spend more time in a lake and have more opportunity to cause damage. But many other factors determine the sensitivity of individual lakes. The size of the lake and its watershed, the types of soils in the watershed, steepness of terrain, the location of streams and other physical aspects of the ecosystem play an important role in determining sensitivity.

Volunteers spent many hours walking along camp roads, climbing up and down hills. They took great care to avoid properties where owners had selected not to become part of this project, checking their maps carefully.

Documenting What They Find

Using survey data sheets, volunteers describe the location of a site, note pathways that polluted runoff takes to reach the water body, measure the size of the site and indicate the source of the runoff such as an eroding road ditch. The groups take photographs and sometime make sketches.

Joe Longtin photographs an area where storm water runoff has made a ditch that leads down to the shore. On the white paper, the numbers indicate the sector and the parcel numbers on the tax map. Later, a resource professional can use this data to locate the site where the photo was taken.

The information collected will be used to identify possible sources of pollution to the ponds, to help us work together to address these problems and to enable the 30 Mile River Watershed Association to apply for grant funds for fixing priority problems.

Public Access Points

Volunteers and their technical advisor make a thorough inspection of the Public Access to Tilton Pond off Route 17 in Fayette, inspecting both sides of the road where water drains through a culvert under the road and runs toward the pond.

Checking tax map

Technical Advisor, Wendy Garland, observes David Polack, Rene Mathieu and Goeff Ng as they locate their position on the Town Farm Road.

Using tax maps divided into sectors and with the aid of GPS equipment, survey volunteers can accurately pinpoint sites in need of closer inspection by technical advisors in the weeks to come.

The intent is to locate sources of soil erosion and runoff that are damaging or could be damaging to water quality. The goal is to document trouble spots and then to work to find reasonable solutions to reduce the amount of soil erosion and phosphorous draining into the lake.

Any information collected is strictly used to analyze the pollution sources to the lake and none of the information collects will be used for enforcement purposes.

Most of the individual groups were able to complete their surveys during the first day. A few groups returned in the following days. All surveys were finished by the end of the week and turned in to the resource professional who will conduct follow-up surveys to check volunteer survey data.

Volunteer lake watershed surveys like this are one of the most effective ways to protect lake water quality. In surveys like those described here, trained volunteers identify sources of water pollution and help their communities find ways to eliminate them. Many of these surveys have been conducted in Maine over the past decade, and they’ve resulted in the identification of thousands of pollution problems, some of which have now been eliminated or reduced.