CHINA — Plans to prevent algae blooms in China Lake are underway after the town secured thousands of dollars in federal grants this week. Local volunteers aim to raise China Lake’s water quality by reversing shoreline erosion and replanting vegetation near the lake. The more than $100,000 in funding from the federal Environmental Protection Agency will be used in the decadeslong push to stop the algae blooms.
The second phase of the 10-year China Lake Watershed-Based Management Plan began once the funding was secured, according to Kennebec County Soil & Water Conservation District project manager Jennifer Jespersen, though the overarching plan first began in 2022. China Lake is at high risk of algal blooms because of large amounts of phosphorus in the lake, Jespersen said. Decades of soil erosion, storm water runoff and human development have loaded the lake with phosphorus, which can fuel large algae blooms in the summer.
“There’s a lot of historical phosphorus loading in the lakes, which is built up in the sediment over time but gets released in the summer,” Jespersen said. “There’s also current sources, like runoff from when it rains or storm water that’s running into the lake. When you have both of them happening at the same time, that can send a lot of phosphorus into the lake.
” China Lake supplies drinking water for tens of thousands of people in Waterville, Winslow and Vassalboro, which Jespersen said makes the watershed project vital to preserving pu.
