Franklin, Maine – A Watershed-Based Management Plan for Georges Pond provides clear goals and strategies for preventing future nuisance algal blooms in the pond by inactivating phosphorus in the lake’s bottom sediments and reducing phosphorus loading from developed land in the watershed.
Georges Pond is a 358-acre lake with a 1-square mile watershed located in Franklin, ME. The lake is listed on Maine’s nonpoint source (NPS) priority watersheds list due to changes in water quality over the past decade- specifically because of nuisance algal blooms which began in 2012. Ecological Instincts was contracted by the Georges Pond Association to help determine the cause of and develop recommendations for the algal blooms and to develop a Watershed-Based Management Plan (WBMP). Project tasks included a water quality analysis, watershed modeling, GIS mapping, field surveys, and permitting for an in-lake aluminum treatment.
Results of the water quality analysis and watershed modeling indicate that over half of the phosphorus load to Georges Pond is from internal phosphorus (P) recycling (P released from bottom sediments during periods of low oxygen in deeper waters). The WBMP prioritized addressing the internal phosphorus load in coordination with targeted phosphorus reductions throughout the watershed. Project partners include the Georges Pond Association, Maine DEP, Ecological Instincts, and WRS, Inc.