The wastewater from most of our camps and homes is treated by a septic system. This includes water from the bathroom, the kitchen, and the laundry. These systems capture nutrients such as phosphorus, the biggest factor in algae growth in lakes. Ensuring your septic system is properly functioning will protect the health of our lakes and ponds. 

Do you know the answers to the following questions? 

• Where is your septic system located?
• How old is your septic system?
• When was your septic system last pumped?
• Has your system been inspected in the last 3-5 years?

These are a few of the questions that play a role in the overall safety of your system. Depending on your answers, you can learn more about what steps can be taken by going through these same questions on our website. 

In 2023, 30 Mile was awarded a grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund (MOHF) to complete a regional septic vulnerability study and database. On our Septic System Vulnerability Study webpage, scroll down to “Is your septic system safe for the lake?” These questions will guide you through what you can do now. You can also find your location on the Septic System Risk Mapper to see the risk of pollution determined by environmental risk factors, such as shallow groundwater, flooding, proximity to wetlands and waterbodies, and soils data. 

Keeping up with your septic maintenance will ensure proper functioning, keep our watershed safe, and reduce the cost of more expensive repairs resulting from misuse.

LD 173, if passed, will reduce registration fees and the cost of a Lake and River Protection Sticker for boats with small motors (<5 HP). These boats can better navigate shallower waters along shore and are a vector of invasive species spread. Analysts at the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife estimate LD 173 will reduce the funds needed for invasive species work by over $320,000 annually.

Maintaining registration and sticker fee revenue from this group of boaters is critical for ensuring the future of programs that remove aquatic invasive species, reduce the risk of invasive species spread, and improve the likelihood that lakes without infestations will remain that way.

Please call or email your legislators today and urge them to vote no when LD 173 comes up for a floor vote in the coming days. If you need to find your legislator’s contact info, click the button below and enter your address. Thank you for speaking up and helping in the fight to reduce the spread of invasive species!

Water Chestnut (Trapa natans), an invasive species found in other New England states, has so far has not made it to Maine's waters, in large part due to work funded by the Lake and River Protection Sticker fees. (Photo credit: Leslie J. Mehrhoff, University of Connecticut, Bugwood.org)

Last week, the Boston-based newsmagazine television program Chronicle covered the Winthrop Lakes region. One of their stories featured Androscoggin Lake, and included a segment with our own Lidie Robbins. You can view the episode here.

Our 2025 monitoring season has begun! Together with volunteers, we will continue bi-weekly monitoring of nine lakes and ponds, as well as additional data collection from four of our watershed’s small ponds (Hales, Kimball, Tilton, and Whittier). Be sure to check out your lake or pond’s page to see near-live updates on water quality found here. 

Thank you to our volunteers for providing us with water and boat access to collect data and water samples. Additionally, trained and certified volunteers assist with data collection. If you are interested in volunteering, please visit our website.

We are grateful for the local businesses who support our work in a wide variety of ways. This past winter, Horne Construction donated their plowing services at our new building. This month, Dave’s Appliance donated a refrigerator that we will use to store water quality samples and aquatic plants. Thank you!

Volunteers are at the heart of 30 Mile and critical to our mission. Thank you to the Onion Foundation for including us in their latest piece on the power of community scientists within the watershed and throughout Maine.