All About the Water Level
- Who controls the water level? The water level is controlled by IF&W (the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife) and Mother Nature.
- How is it controlled? The water level is regulated by the dam on Mill Street. The dam has a manually operated single gate with bottom release with the left spillway (looking downstream) at 280.5 and the right spillway at approx. 280.8 feet above sea level.
- How is it measured? The water level is measured at a gauge on the lower side of the bridge abutment that has been undisturbed for decades:
What should the water level be?
The left spillway crest is at 280.5 feet MSL (mean sea level). IF&W attempts to keep the water at 280.5 MSL, with some variations in certain seasons
So why isn't it:
watershed (#1 in image below) of 15.5 square miles, and another 14.4 square miles of indirect
watershed (#2 in image below) by way of Raymond Pond, Crescent Lake, Rolfe Brook, and other
seasonal brooks. (As well as springs in the lake itself.) It takes time for stormwater to work its way through the system. After a heavy rain, even with the dam open, the lake level will continue to rise for several days. Unpredictable spring melting just adds to the problem. The dam isn't big enough to let all that water out quickly, and that would likely flood the area below the dam anyway, so it takes a while to adjust the level. (Panther has a surface area of 1,439 acres, so it takes an outflow (plus evaporation) of almost 40 million gallons more than what's coming in to lower the lake level by one inch.)
In the early 1990s, the state requested that residents of Panther Pond (the Association), assign one (1) volunteer to be the liaison between residents and IF&W related to communicating high water levels. That has been done. For challenges, please email [email protected]. This volunteer checks the lake level each Monday and communicates with IF&W when needed.
It takes time for stormwater to work its way through the system. After a heavy rain, even with the dam gate open, the lake level will continue to rise for several days. Unpredictable spring melting just adds to the problem. The dam isn't big enough to let all that water out quickly, and that would likely flood the area below the dam anyway, so it takes a while to adjust the level. (Panther has a
surface area of 1,439 acres, so it takes an outflow (plus evaporation) of almost 40 million gallons more than what's coming in to lower the lake level by one inch.). The Mill Street dam had been continuously deteriorating. A 2024 reconstruction by the state IF&W was completed, which hopefully will last a minimum of 50 years.
In the Panther Pond Water Level 2007 graph, you can see the effect of the 2007 Patriots Day storm. It took weeks to get the lake level back down after that event. IF&W may open the dam in anticipation of an expected storm. If that storm then fails to happen, it takes time to get the water level back up to where it should be.
The left spillway crest is at 280.5 feet MSL (mean sea level). IF&W attempts to keep the water at 280.5 MSL, with some variations in certain seasons
So why isn't it:
- My boat is aground!
- My cellar is flooded!
- Why aren't they keeping the water where it belongs?
watershed (#1 in image below) of 15.5 square miles, and another 14.4 square miles of indirect
watershed (#2 in image below) by way of Raymond Pond, Crescent Lake, Rolfe Brook, and other
seasonal brooks. (As well as springs in the lake itself.) It takes time for stormwater to work its way through the system. After a heavy rain, even with the dam open, the lake level will continue to rise for several days. Unpredictable spring melting just adds to the problem. The dam isn't big enough to let all that water out quickly, and that would likely flood the area below the dam anyway, so it takes a while to adjust the level. (Panther has a surface area of 1,439 acres, so it takes an outflow (plus evaporation) of almost 40 million gallons more than what's coming in to lower the lake level by one inch.)
In the early 1990s, the state requested that residents of Panther Pond (the Association), assign one (1) volunteer to be the liaison between residents and IF&W related to communicating high water levels. That has been done. For challenges, please email [email protected]. This volunteer checks the lake level each Monday and communicates with IF&W when needed.
It takes time for stormwater to work its way through the system. After a heavy rain, even with the dam gate open, the lake level will continue to rise for several days. Unpredictable spring melting just adds to the problem. The dam isn't big enough to let all that water out quickly, and that would likely flood the area below the dam anyway, so it takes a while to adjust the level. (Panther has a
surface area of 1,439 acres, so it takes an outflow (plus evaporation) of almost 40 million gallons more than what's coming in to lower the lake level by one inch.). The Mill Street dam had been continuously deteriorating. A 2024 reconstruction by the state IF&W was completed, which hopefully will last a minimum of 50 years.
In the Panther Pond Water Level 2007 graph, you can see the effect of the 2007 Patriots Day storm. It took weeks to get the lake level back down after that event. IF&W may open the dam in anticipation of an expected storm. If that storm then fails to happen, it takes time to get the water level back up to where it should be.
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