OXFORD — A late-fall decision to lower water levels, coupled with a spring drought, has led to low water levels on Thompson Lake. Officials say recent rain should have the lake close to historical levels for Memorial Day weekend.

Last October, at the recommendation of the Thompson Lake Environmental Association, the Oxford Board of Selectmen and the Robinson Mill Dam Committee lowered the level of the lake to 32 inches below the top of the dam to prevent spring flooding caused by snowmelt and rain.

Flooding erodes phosphate-rich soil into the lake and fuels the growth of water-clouding algae, the lake association told landowners at a public hearing last August. Preventing flooding keeps the lake healthy.

Unseasonably low rainfall, however, has been troublesome for lake residents who came up early to enjoy warm days in May.

Maureen Eberly, a Connecticut resident who owns a cottage on Canada Hill Shore Road in Otisfield, said that in early May the level was more than 11 inches lower than last year at the same time. She said she and other residents have had trouble getting boats into the water.

Eberly said she understood the need to prevent flooding, but that the town wasn’t doing enough to keep the water level high enough.

“The thing that gets me the most is that, like any lake in Maine, there are rocks and boulders,” Eberly said. She said trying to get her family’s boat free was a small ordeal when it got stuck in the sand. They pulled it through, but she said she’s heard of other lake residents having trouble with the boat launch.

Eberly said that when she went to the dam in April, “the water was gushing over there like crazy.” It was the same in early May. She said she was told the boards in the dam that hold water in a different level were in.

Oxford Town Manager Michael Chammings said the boards on the dam can only go in when the water is at least 2 inches higher than the previous board, because the boards are held in with water pressure from the lake. Oxford, which owns the dam at the former Robinson Mill, controls the lake level with advice from the lake association.

Chammings pointed to the severe drought that affected the entire state this year. Chammings said the lake was 6 inches below last year on Monday and only 4 inches below Wednesday. By Memorial Day, he said, the lake should be up to its usual level.

Scott Bernardy, environmental chairman of the lake association, sent a letter to Thompson Lake landowners last week explaining that while the snowpack was above average, low rainfall has kept the water level from rising.

Bernardy said in the letter that repairing the dam’s main gate, rather than relying on the boards, would give Oxford better control of the lake level. When the Thompson Lake Dam Advisory Committee meets on May 28, repairing the main gate will be on the agenda.

treaves@sunjournal.com

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