Water Supply
Sebago Lake is the primary water supply for the Portland Water District, which serves the Greater Portland region and about 15% of Maine's population. The lake's watershed is more than 50 miles (80 km) long and covers parts of 24 Maine towns.
The lake holds roughly 995 billion US gallons (3.77×109 m3) of water that on average resides 5.1 to 5.4 years in the lake. The direct watershed is about 171 square miles (443 km2) of land plus the 45 square miles (117 km2) of the lake, and the indirect watershed about 190 square miles (490 km2) of land plus about 28 square miles (73 km2) of other bodies of water. As of May 1990, roughly 86% of the watershed was forests and fallow fields, 2.5% in active timber operations, 9.3% in residential, agricultural, and commercial use, and 2.2% used for other purposes. Water inflow is estimated at 544 million US gallons (2,060,000 m3) per day and outflow at 498 million US gallons (1,890,000 m3) per day, of which 24 million US gallons (91,000 m3)/day are for the water district.
Read more about this topic: Sebago Lake
Famous quotes containing the words water and/or supply:
“Ice is an interesting subject for contemplation. They told me that they had some in the ice-houses at Fresh Pond five years old which was as good as ever. Why is it that a bucket of water soon becomes putrid, but frozen remains sweet forever? It is commonly said that this is the difference between the affections and the intellect.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Dear to us are those who love us ... but dearer are those who reject us as unworthy, for they add another life; they build a heaven before us whereof we had not dreamed, and thereby supply to us new powers out of the recesses of the spirit, and urge us to new and unattempted performances.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)