Отсрочка федерального финансирования перенесет проекты по очистке водосбора озера Уилсон на 2027–2028 годы

WILTON — A delay in federal funding has pushed planned Wilson Lake watershed improvement projects into 2027 and 2028, Friends of Wilson Lake President Robert Rogers said. Rogers told the Select Board on Sept. 1 that $150,000 through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Section 319 program had not yet become available, preventing erosion and runoff projects from moving forward this year. The federal money is administered by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Rogers said he spoke in August with Alex Wong, who oversees the agency’s Section 319 priority watershed programs. “The information he has indicates the EPA funds will become available on Oct. 1,” Rogers said. The delay means projects originally expected to move forward during the 2026 field season will likely have to wait until next year or later. “Because of the delayed funding, the time frame for work on these projects is now pushed into 2027 and 2028,” Rogers said. The Wilson Lake watershed plan includes projects on town, state and private property. Rogers said work includes Maine Department of Transportation sites along Route 156, or Weld Road, several Wilton roads and public park areas, and potentially as many as four private lakefront properties. The grant is tied to a watershed protection effort developed after a 2024 survey identified 76 sites where erosion, failing culverts, inadequate drainage or other conditions could contribute sediment and pollutants to Wilson Lake. Some improvements identified through the survey have already been completed outside the delayed grant program. Rogers previously pointed to drainage work at Lakeview Cemetery and improvements along Pond Road as examples. Friends of Wilson Lake also is planning a program encouraging landowners to plant or improve shoreline buffers. “The buffer program hopefully will proceed in 2027,” Rogers said. The organization also continues to support Maine Lakes’ LakeSmart program, which recognizes lakefront properties using practices intended to reduce runoff and protect water quality. Rogers said two additional Wilson Lake properties qualified for LakeSmart awards in August. Those efforts are included under the watershed grant guidelines, he said. Rogers also updated the board Sept. 1 on long-term monitoring of Wilson Lake. A research buoy operated in collaboration with the University of Maine at Farmington contains dissolved-oxygen and temperature sensors extending through the water column and records measurements every 30 minutes throughout the year. Rogers said recent water clarity readings have improved, with 2025 readings averaging about 7 meters, while phosphorus levels have remained relatively stable. Historical ice-out records dating to before 1900 also show the lake generally losing its ice earlier than it did decades ago, resulting in a shorter ice season. The watershed work is intended to reduce soil and nutrients entering Wilson Lake through runoff by improving drainage, controlling erosion and encouraging shoreline buffers. For now, the federally funded construction projects remain delayed. “All of the grant work has been on hold,” Rogers told the board.