Thank you to all who showed up to help with constructing the temporary sandbag dam in the “Causeway” between the Maine boat launch and the Millpond. For those who may not be aware, this took place under the West Spirit Lake Road bridge on Sunday, November 9. About 30 people came to lend a hand and it made the project go quickly and successfully.
The reason for isolating the Millpond was to try to determine if there is a significant leak in that area that could be repaired. The water level declined sharply this year to levels not typically seen, even though we started the year with a full lake. There can be several factors affecting the lake level. However, being aware of the lake level decline along with what appeared to be a significant flow of water under the West Spirit Lake Road bridge into the Millpond area, suspicion arose that a new leak may have developed in the Millpond.
In 2002, SLPOA helped to place a liner in the Millpond to stem the significant leakage that was drastically lowering the lake level at that time. Ten years ago another leak was observed. That time it was due to a failed lap seam in the liner. SLPOA repaired that point of leakage and the Lake returned to more typical and consistent water levels until this year.
By stopping the flow under the bridge (through the “Causeway”) the amount of water loss can be determined as the Millpond level drops. It may also be possible to locate a single significant leak if one exists. In order to repair such a leak, the water level must drop sufficiently to gain access with the equipment needed to repair it. The Millpond bottom will not likely dry out enough to gain easy access, but we are assured there is equipment available that can successfully travers the muddy bottom without further damage to the Millpond bottom or the liner. The alternative was to wait and see if Lake levels drop again next year and hope to identify and repair such a leak a year from now.
We are now monitoring the Millpond level since the temporary dam was installed and has mostly stopped the input. Since there is no active outlet from the Millpond, if the level drops significantly we will be confident that there is a significant leak or a number of smaller leaks through the bottom.
After one day, the level was down about 1 inch. After two days it was down about 3-4 inches. A lot of water, but maybe not enough to indicate a major leak. We will continue to monitor for several days. If we cannot identify a single significant point of leakage, the temporary dam will be removed. If a leak is identified, we will do what we can to repair it.
At the end of the day, the Millpond section of Spirit Lake is integral to the health of the entire lake. SLPOA is committed to doing what we can to conserve the wellbeing of the whole lake, including the Millpond section.
We will continue to communicate as this issue develops.