June 20 – 26, 2025Vol. 27, No. 2

We’re in Great Shape, If You Like Water

An aerial view of the Belgrade Lakes Village Dam, looking east toward Great Pond. Peninsula Park is on the right. Photo by Alexander Wall.

by Dick Greenan

As of this writing, we are happy to report that all of our pond water levels are in great shape, if you like water! Actually, a little bit higher than we would like, no thanks to these unrelenting showers! It hasn’t been exactly Chamber of Commerce weather, but enough is enough. I wish the showers took place at night while I was sleeping, but noooooo. We feel so sorry for those who look forward to their weekends off, only to be inundated with another rainy weekend! Sorry!!!

Great Pond’s Village dam is currently 1.92″ above full pond with one gate opened 3′. Long Pond’s Wings Mill dam is right at 2.64″, also above full pond with gates opened up 18″ and 3′. With the Village Dam opened 3′, upper Long Pond is holding high at 5″ above. Salmon/McGrath is 1.8″ above full pond with its calibrated valve set to the mandated 1 cfs flow. Our neighbors on Messalonskee are actually down 3.24″ below full, which is remarkable with all of the water we are sending their way!

Although NOAA and the “experts” are still calling for a summer of 21-30% less precipitation, we remain vigilant in our “save the water” mode with all our gates being closed when at all possible. Although at present, our gates are still open as we are trying to stabilize all of our ponds at 3″ above full pond. If you recall, at 3″ above full, the water level shouldn’t float off anyone’s dock and more importantly, not flood out any of our native hummock-style loon nests.

Precipitation for the past ten days was a whopping 2.21″, but as of this writing, we are looking at a paltry 0.23″ for the next 10 days, which is more like the aforementioned Chamber of Commerce weather we like! FYI, our normal monthly precipitation during the summer is supposed to be 3.5″. So we’ll take what we can get — as if we have a choice!

If you have a particular questions regarding our dams and/or water levels, please email dickgreenan@outlook.com. We will try to answer your question either in this column or via email.

Enjoy your summer! It should be beautiful once it gets here! Personally, I’d keep the GoreTex handy if I were you!

Dick

Dick Greenan is the Rome representative on the Belgrade Lakes Watershed Dams Committee. He submitted this report on June 11, 2025.

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