By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — The Naples Board of Selectmen certainly was not a wet blanket when it came to supporting water quality in this town.

The selectmen unanimously approved the use of $2,000 from the Undesignated Expense Account to do watershed and shoreline surveys of Trickey Pond that will eventually lead to a water-quality protection plan.

The selectmen allocated the funding and also recommended that the groups involved come before the Naples Budget Committee for future funding.

The Trickey Pond Environmental Protection Association (TREPA) had already dedicated $2,000 of its own money and would use the combined funds from the town and TREPA for a matching grant.

The action is not exactly proactive as Trickey Pond has been decreasing in water clarity and increasing in phosphorous.

On July 8, TREPA representative Martina Witts spoke to the board.

“Basically, what we are doing is in partnership with Lakes Environmental Association (LEA), Portland Water District (PWD), FB Environmental and our association, we would like to undertake a watershed survey of Trickey Pond,” Witts said.

“This is of great interest to the [Portland Water] District since all of the Trickey Pond watershed is in the Sebago Lake watershed,” she said.

PWD has an vested interest since it uses a portion of Sebago Lake to provide drinking water to its customers.

“The reason that the Trickey Pond is key: Even though it is very clean lake, in the last couple years, the LEA surveys of the water have shown that it is declining in clarity. So, this is a concern. And, it is mostly about what we call non-point-source pollution,” she explained.

Witts read the letter, which was addressed to the selectmen and presented the reasons behind the request for funding.

“Trickey Pond is listed as threatened on the Feb. 2019 Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) nonpoint-source priority watershed list,” she read.

“It is listed as a priority water body because it has outstanding water quality and is under threat from development and nonpoint-source pollution,” she said. 

“Trickey Pond is the only lake or pond in the Sebago Lake watershed that is currently showing a decreasing water quality trend,” she said.

This includes deep-water phosphorous readings, she said.

“As a result, Trickey Pond warrants a high degree of concern from LEA,” she said.

The proposed scope of work would occur in two phases in 2019 and in 2020.

The watershed survey and the shoreline survey are proposed to take place in October 2019. Then, a protection plan would be written and provided in 2020.

“You need to have an approved protection plan written in order to receive 319 funds from the MDEP,” she said. 

The protection plan must be written in order to get monies to rectify the nonpoint-source pollution, she said.

“The water quality survey will act as a springboard to protect Trickey Pond, and will be an excellent opportunity to raise community awareness and stewardship issues,” Witts said.  

She explained that the TREPA has 18 very active members who have dedicated not only money but also their time in helping with the surveys. The watershed protection group is separate from the property owners association. However, the Trickey Pond Camp and Homeowners Association will be working with TREPA, LEA, and PWD to notify the neighbors of the surveys taking place this fall.

Trickey Pond is about 300 acres, and the watershed is 550 acres.