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Dave Courtemanche of the Maine DEP provided the group with a historical overview of the Sebasticook Lake Watershed. Pollution has had an impact on the lake ecology since the 1940s. As a discharger of various pollutants, the Eastland Woolen Mill, (in operation from 1936-1996) had a significant negative impact on the environment. However, the Woolen Mill was not the only contributor. There were several other smaller industries such as canning, shoe manufacturing, metal fabrication and several agricultural farms, which contributed to the downfall of the lake.
In 1969 Corinna's activated sludge plant went online. In 1978, the lake restoration project began with water quality targets to produce fishable and swimmable waters. The DEP goals for returning to fishable status were to increase the oxygen at all levels with a saturated upper layer, greater than 2 nig/1 oxygen in the lower layer, restore the cold water fishery, and remove all fish advisories. In order to return to "swimmable" status, the DEP requires the elimination of algae blooms. DEP requires light to penetrate greater than 2 meters for a water not to be considered an algae bloom and for the phosphorus level to be below15 micrograms per liter. The phosphorus target for the restoration plan was to limit inputs to 4800 kg per year from all sources. Dexter and Corinna were two municipal sources that contributed 2300 and 2200 kg/yr respectively of phosphorus. Nonpoint sources contributed 4500 kg/yr and the internal cycling of phosphorus made available 6600 to 9900 kg/yr. The plan included removing the Dexter discharge, upgrading the Corinna performance, reducing farm runoff and flushing out some of the phosphorus so it would not be available for reuse by drawing down the lake ten to twelve feet, which is approximately 40 % of the volume. All this effort paid off in the long run since in 2001 the smelt returned to the lake and in 2005 Sebasticook Lake has experienced no algae bloom for the first time in 60 years. Following the excellent and informative presentation by Mr. Courtemanche, Ms. Holway from Olver Associates gave an overview of the design and funding of the new facility. Corinna Sewer District was formed back in the 1960s operating about 21,000 linear feet of collection lines, serving approximately 330 users representing about 800 people. The original facility that went online in 1969 served both the village area and the Eastern Woolen Mill. The treated wastewater was discharged to the East Branch of the Sebasticook River located upstream of the Sebasticook Lake.
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By the late 1940's the
fisheries had been impacted with loss of several of the indigenous
species such as trout, salmon and smelt. Algae blooms, low dissolved
oxygen, and excessive weeds plagued the water body. The first of
several studies was conducted in 1966. This was followed by several
other studies to determine the effects of phosphorus control,
recycling and lake level draw down to remove the phosphorus recycling,
From 1997 until 2003,
the District worked with the various regulatory agencies and the
necessary funding agencies to craft an acceptable solution to the
phosphorus dilemma. Originally, the activated sludge plant was
modified to add nutrient removal and to control inflow and
infiltration by upgrading the collection system. DEP wanted
elimination of the discharge completely, however, considering the
small user base, this was not economically feasible for the District.
The alternative was a treatment with a low operational cost. 
Phase one of the project
began in August of 2001 replacing 14,000 feet of sewer at a cost of
$1.97 million dollars. The majority of this funding was from various
grants with only a small portion in loans. Phase two of the project
included finding funding sources, acquiring land, designing and
permitting the new facility. This was funded mostly by a DEP grant to
the tune of approximately $7.32 million dollars. Construction of the
new facultative lagoons and spray irrigation system began in July of
2004 and was completed in September of 2005. 
The day's final
presentation was given by Rick Leighton of the EPA. Mr. Leighton
described the contamination issue and gave an overview of how the
cleanup was accomplished. One of the key points he wanted everyone to
take away with them was that it is much more difficult and expensive
to clean up ground water than it is to clean up surface water. Maybe
this is a point worth pondering as more facilities are forced to
eliminate discharges to
surface waters! Overall the day was very
pleasant with some very useful information gained by all. The future
elimination of point source discharges to lake watersheds is a goal of
the DEP. Regulations to discharge to surface waters are getting
expensive to comply with and the future will only get more complex.
MRWA would like to thank Ralph Emery and the Corinna Sewer District
for hosting this year's annual lagoon day!
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