The Destruction of Sebago Lake

This underwater photo was taken in August, 1999 at Long Point on Sebago Lake. The material on the bottom is a "fluff" of algae carpets the lake bottom. As the yardstick indicates, this "fluff" carpet is approximately 2-3 inches thick. The lake bottom beneath the carpet of algae is fine sand.

In earlier decades, this area of the lake had no algae carpet like that shown above. Instead, the bottom was composed of clean, rippled sand with little or no visible algae growth.

This underwater photo, taken at the same site and time as the photo above, shows the uniform carpet of fine algae on the lake bottom. This area used to be a bed of fine, clean rippled sand.