BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 6, 2021
Newport will have the first watershed study done on Sebasticook Lake in more than two decades to determine phosphorus levels and best practices to care for the lake in the future. Sebasticook Lake was heavily polluted with phosphorus starting in the 1950s for a number of reasons — including mills depositing waste and byproducts into the lake, irrigation practices and roadway construction. By 2001, most of the upstream companies had closed or were in the process of closing. That waste had gone away. Most of the septic systems were being repaired or replaced. Land spreading had ceased to exist. Sebasticook Lake, which spans 4,288 acres, is the largest body of water in Maine whose entire lakeshore lies within a single municipality. The study notes that the lake’s 23-year phosphorus database from 1978 to 2000 “represents one of the longest and continuous nutrient-based water quality records available for Maine lakes.”