Getting Back to Summer Lake Levels
Welcome back to another summertime in the Belgrades and the ninth year of the Dams Keeper Report!
Many of us are still recovering from this past winter and early spring deluges. With the exception of Salmon Lake, all of our lakes were a good 12-14″ above full pond at ice out on March 22, when they should have been right at full pond or a few inches below. For those of you “from away,” you probably heard about this debacle but were not prepared for the shock when you got back to the lake! With the high water over the entire winter and the high ice levels as a result, the ice scoured the shoreline of all of our lakes and anything that got in its way such as your docks, shoreline steps, etc., took the brunt. There were also some pretty impressive pressure ridges too as a result.
Going back to October 2023, we had far more rain than we could handle. Four inches of rain for October was normal, but when we received 8.53″ in December and another 7.01″ just for the first twenty-four days in March, our dams just could not handle the onslaught. Keep in mind that due to the steep watershed, Long Pond comes up 3″ for every 1″ of rain! So, in December, Long Pond came up 25.59″!!! In this past March, Long Pond came up an additional 21.03″, despite both dam gates being wide open. That is a lot of water for Long Pond’s Wings Mill Dam to process with two relatively meager 6′10″ square gates and a 90’ spillway. Hence the extremely high-water levels and some of the damage that many are still dealing with.
Well, fast forward to this past Memorial Day weekend, Great Pond’s Village dam is back down to a reasonable 3.36″ above full pond with Gate 1 now opened just 10″. Long Pond and its Wings Mill dam is 3.15″, also above full pond with Gate 1 opened just 18″. Salmon/McGrath is right at 3.6″ above full pond with its calibrated valve opened just the mandated 1 cfs flow. Our neighbors on Messalonskee are presently down to 2.88″ below full, which is commendable considering the amount of water the aforementioned ponds have been sending their way!
With 26% less precipitation forecasted through July, we are trying to begin our summer with all of the ponds at 3″ above full pond. If you recall, at 3″ above full, the water level shouldn’t float off any one’s dock — Of course, that is assuming you have found all your washed-out dock sections! — and more importantly, not flood out any of our native hummock-style loon nests. But it does provide us a little buffer in the event we do run into another drought.
If you have a particular question regarding our dams 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.
Enjoy your summer and again, welcome back!
Dick
Dick Greenan is chairman of the Belgrade Lakes Watershed Dams Committee. He submitted this report on May 27, 2024.
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