On Monday, October 27, 2014, the Lake Winnipesaukee Watershed Association in partnership with FB Environmental Associates, and the Town of Moultonborough, will hold a kick-off meeting at the Moultonborough Public Library, 6pm., to present an overview of a project to address water quality impairments in Moultonborough Bay Inlet (MBI), the northernmost feature of Lake Winnipesaukee.
Moultonborough Bay Inlet has historically exhibited excessive levels of in-lake total phosphorus (TP) when compared to the other seven sub-basins which comprise Lake Winnipesaukee. In addition to Lake Winnipesaukee’s current impairment for cyanobacteria, several waterbodies within the MBI sub-watershed are listed on the State’s 305(b)/303(d) list for failure to fully support aquatic life use due to elevated concentrations of chlorophyll-a, insufficient dissolved oxygen, excessive total phosphorus (TP), and non-native aquatic plants (milfoil).
The Moultonborough community has made water quality protection a high priority, investing considerable resources (both financial and voluntary labor) over the past five years. To assist the community in focusing their efforts, the Lake Winnipesaukee Watershed Association (LWWA) has been awarded a NHDES Watershed Assistance grant to begin the development and implementation of a restoration plan that will identify sources of pollutants within the Moultonborough Inlet sub-watershed that have led to the impairments and propose measures to address those sources.
All are welcome to attend the kick-off meeting. For additional information, contact Pat Tarpey, LWWA at 603-581-6632 or email mail@winnipesaukee.org. Funding for the Moultonborough Bay Inlet Watershed Restoration Plan comes from several sources, including section 319 of the Clean Water Act, administered by the NH Department of Environmental Services.