The “Great” Idea of Water Levels
We received an interesting question from one of our neighbors on East Pond this past week, which brought back a lot of memories! “Why does Great Pond (guess where they live?) have to maintain specific water levels and whose ‘great’ idea was it?” Well, back in 1987, the great minds of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Central Maine Power, and the towns of Oakland, Belgrade and Rome all got together to respond to the onslaught of residents’ continuing complaints about water levels.
What developed out of that two-year process is our current Water Level Management Plan. Based on our existing shoreline properties within the respective watersheds, fish spawning needs, and electricity generation requirements at that time, a plan was developed which has since been thoroughly tested over the past 38 years with Mother Nature throwing everything she can at us, not the least of which was a few hurricanes and downbursts. Yet the plan is still in force and valid for our times, thanks to the dedication of the DEP and our all-volunteer Belgrade Inter-lake Watershed Dams Committee!
All of our ponds are still hanging in there despite the general lack of precipitation. Precipitation for the past ten days was only 0.46”, with just 0.75” forecasted for the next ten days, so it looks like we’re done with the umbrellas and GoreTex, at least for the time being.
The water level at Great Pond’s Village dam is currently 0.36” above full pond with the main gate still closed — basically full pond. Long Pond’s Wings Mill dam is also right at full pond with the spillway/walkway bone dry (for the first time this summer) and both gates still completely closed. Salmon/McGrath is now down 1.44” below full pond with its single gate still opened the mandated 1 cfs flow. Messalonskee, a.k.a. Snow Pond, is still holding at 2.66” below full which is still very acceptable considering their electricity generation needs.
If you have particular questions regarding our dams and/or water levels, please email your inquiry to dickgreenan@outlook.com, and we will try to answer your question either in this column or via email — but please keep them simple!
Enjoy the family, your vacation, and this incredibly beautiful weather and please stay safe!
Dick Greenan is the Rome representative on the Belgrade Lakes Watershed Dams Committee. He submitted this report on July 16, 2025.
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