What happened to Hancock County’s Graham Lake?

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What happened to Hancock County’s Graham Lake?

Graham Lake, at the mercy of a dam

With the southern tip of Hancock County experiencing an abnormally dry period to kick off the summer, lakefront homeowners on Graham Lake are cringing at the prospect of facing exposed mudflats and desert-like topography in areas that were once submerged. The lake, which covers 8,000 acres within the towns of Ellsworth, Mariaville, and Waltham, is man-made: it was formed by the construction of a hydro-electric power dam back in 1922. The original dam failed a year later, flooded the town of Ellsworth, and was rebuilt. Today, it is owned and operated by the Brookfield Renewable Energy Group. Because Graham Lake is relatively shallow to begin with, featuring a mean depth of 17 feet and a maximum depth of 47 feet, it is highly susceptible to drought, and the dam only exacerbates the process. Such an issue has created a point of tension for many community members, particularly because this year Brookfield Renewable is looking to renew its federal licenses, a process that only happens once every thirty years.
The timing, however, is uncanny; the water levels in the lake have shown both historic highs (January 2018) and lows (October 2017) in the past year. The dam stores water in the spring and uses it in the summer to generate electricity, and the levels typically recover in the fall. Federal licensure allows up to an 11-foot fluctuation in water levels as caused by the dam, but the past year has left many community members concerned that those limits are close to being exceeded, and it is looking like this summer has potential to be even worse than the previous. Property that was once considered “lakefront” real estate may now require up to a half mile walk across mud flats before reaching the water; docks and boats are beached, leaving many homeowners frustrated, especially because they are required to pay extra taxes for possessing lakefront property. But how can that be justified when the lake disappears from sight during the months that it is most coveted?
Not only are community members concerned about the growing shoreline and various islands that have formed as water levels have dropped, many are advocating for fish passage to be considered in the dam’s relicensing process. The dam makes it difficult–impossible, even–for native fish species to swim upstream to spawn; Graham Lake is home to landlocked wild Atlantic Salmon that have been denied access from the Union River since 1907. The dam’s turbine also proves a threat to eels en route to the ocean, leaving many of the severed. Conservationists are pushing for contingencies in the new licensure that could help to protect these species.
In the spring, 200 people attended an informal meeting in Ellsworth where city officials and Brookfield Renewal representatives discussed the concerns voiced by community members regarding the dam and it’s upcoming license renewal, which could take up to year to reach completion. In the meantime, homeowners can only hope to have a better summer on the “lake” than they did last year.

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