Participants will get dinner and
a boat ride.
NORWAY – Residents will have an opportunity to learn about caring for lakes Wednesday with a free outing on Pennesseewassee Lake.
Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments is asking those interested to meet at the Red School House area in the park at 5:30 p.m. for a light supper before the outing.
AVCOG Planning Director Ferg Lea said the proceedings will begin with a discussion of the impacts that erosion and phosphorus have on Norway’s lakes.
Lea said that better maintenance in the fall to get rid of leaves on the road would be helpful. He said leaves will hold water on the road that eventually runs off into the lake taking with it substances that damage the lake.
He said the roads should be graded in the springtime and drainage systems should be checked to make sure they are properly working.
“Turning the roads to year-round use has created a lot of drainage problems,” Lea said.
Lea said erosion attacks a lake from two points: private and public roads. He said that Norway has done quite a bit of work on their road ditches and roads to curb erosion.
And, private camp owners on camp roads around lakes are doing projects to reduce erosion, protect their roads and reduce phosphorus runoff.
After the discussion on roads, boats will be available to take people to an on-water lesson in water quality sampling. Currently a Norway Lake Association volunteer samples the water on a continuous basis through the summer and reports to the state.
The tour will then stop at a camp road to look at what has been done and what needs to be done to curb erosion.
Lea said the educational evening on protecting lakes was made possible through a grant AVCOG received from the Department of Environmental Protection.
jsmedley@sunjournal.com
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