OTISFIELD – The Saturday Pond Watershed Association will conduct a survey of its watershed beginning Saturday, April 26. A watershed is the land that drains to a lake by surface runoff, tributary streams, springs and groundwater recharge.

Saturday Pond’s watershed covers 1.3 square miles in Otisfield. The water in the pond outlets into Sucker Brook, which flows into Thompson Lake, then into the Androscoggin River, the Merrymeeting Bay and ultimately the Atlantic Ocean.

In recent years, a large number of lakes in Maine have experienced algal blooms and many more lakes are threatened. Carried in stormwater, the pollutants (particularly phosphorous) come from developed areas such as roofs, driveways, roads, bare soil and chemically treated lawns and gardens.

A joint training session of volunteers from the SPWA and the Thompson Lake Environmental Association will be provided by Kristin Feindel, Maine Department of Environmental Protection, from 9 to 11 a.m. at the East Otisfield Free Baptist Church, Rayville Road.

From 11 a.m. through approximately 3:30 p.m., volunteers will be divided into teams to survey the four sectors surrounding Saturday Pond to identify sites where “nonpoint source” pollution (i.e. erosion and polluted runoff) takes place. A professional with knowledge and experience in watershed surveys will lead each team in the field.

Information collected in the survey will not be used for regulatory or enforcement purposes. Rather, it is the first step in a long-term plan to correct pollution problems in the Saturday Pond Watershed.

The watershed survey is a joint project between the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the Saturday Pond Watershed Association and the Oxford County Soil and Water Conservation District. Although it is hoped that most of the fieldwork will be completed on April 26, surveyors plan to continue their work, if necessary, into May and early June.

For detailed information about the watershed survey and the SPWA, contact www.saturdaypond.org. Survey organizers are still seeking volunteers. No experience or special equipment is necessary. For more information, contact Carl Anderson at [email protected].