ROXBURY — The Ellis Pond Watershed Survey Committee received a boost this month after an Andover business donated $5,000 to assist with the ongoing watershed protection efforts.
The Watershed Survey Committee said in a news release that Steve Swasey of Swasey Excavation in Andover donated $5,000 to the committee, explaining that he appreciated the work of the “local residents and the quality of the pond.”
Swasey added that he “hoped the contribution could be used to plant vegetation and fix other problems identified in the watershed survey so the lake could be preserved for future generations.”
The committee’s release stated that Swasey Excavation had recently completed roadwork for the town of Roxbury that fixed several problem areas which were identified in May as part of the watershed survey.
Jim Wendt, president of the Silver Lake Camp Owners Association, said the last survey was in 1998.
Roxbury Pond is also known as Silver Lake and Ellis Pond.
“We want to look at all 26 square miles of the watershed to identify what sources are contributing to the lake’s contamination,” Wendt said. “We’ve had a number of large rain events this year that washed a lot of debris into the lake. This past fall, there was an algae bloom that is acting as a harbinger of poorer conditions.”
AmeriCorps volunteer Laura Crossley said the committee has received several other donations over the summer, including $1,000 from the Silver Lake Camp Owners Association, $250 from private contributions, $3,000 from Roxbury and $200 from Byron.
Auburn resident Scott Williams, a marine biologist and executive director of the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program, said in a report that certified lake monitors Ross and Christine Swain of Andover recently observed and helped document a brief, but intense, bloom that was initially detected by a colorful surface scum that persisted for several days in some areas of the pond.
“The bloom that occurred in October was the first known event of its kind in the pond,” Williams said in his report.
mdaigle@sunjournal.com
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