By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

New legislation seeks to use a forecasting model to head off algae blooms and poor water quality at Gulf Island Pond.

The model would allow scientists to predict when algae blooms might occur in Gulf Island Pond, according to attorney Michael Gentile. He represents the town of Jay, which asked him to draft the legislation.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Raymond Pineau, D-Jay, is currently being reviewed by the Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee.

The legislation would put a forecasting tool in place and require quick reaction to prevent algae blooms at Gulf Island.

“If you know one is coming, because of outside conditions, you can react and change conditions at the dam,” Gentile said. Operators could let water out of the dam, which would increase the temperature of the water left behind.

“Less water means no algae bloom, and that means better water quality,” Gentile said.

Gulf Island Pond is a dammed, 14-mile stretch of the Androscoggin River between Auburn and Turner on the west side, and Lewiston and Greene on the east side.

With three paper mills and five municipalities dumping treated effluent into the river, the man-made pond does not meet state water quality standards.

“We want them to study the dam this summer and see what conditions lead up to an algae bloom,” Gentile said. “If you know that blooms come on a summer day when the temperature is at a certain degree and something else is happening, you can react when you see those conditions coming.”

Algae blooms are explosions of phytoplankton in response to changing environmental conditions, including nutrient over-enrichment from wastewater and other sources. Blooms can result in oxygen depletion and biological damage.

Andrew Fisk, director of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s Land and Water Quality Bureau, said it was too soon to know whether Pineau’s bill would be valid.

The DEP has vowed that the Androscoggin River will meet minimum quality standards by 2010 by limiting how much pollution can be dumped in the river.

“Our major focus has been looking at how the dam and pollution dischargers interact to not meet standards,” Fisk said. “So we have not focused on finding specific ways to control the water quality. You could say that it’s a new idea for us.”

Rep. Elaine Makas, D-Lewiston, said she supports the idea. Makas has sponsored her own legislation, which seeks to tighten pollution limits on the mills upstream from Gulf Island.

“In my mind, they are complementary,” she said. “One seeks to increase water quality and the other to limit pollution. You really have to do both for a healthy river.”