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CMP Part 3A. Environmental Protection Plan <br /> SURFACE WATER MANAGEMENT HISTORY <br /> Orono's many miles of shoreline are especially sensitive to misuse or <br /> overdevelopment. As the interface between land and water, the shoreline is ever <br /> changing. Shorelines are subject to continual erosion by wave action, ice <br /> buildup or unstable soil conditions. Droughts dry out vegetation and heavy rains <br /> or snow melt cause land slippage. <br /> On top of these natural pressures, man is drawn to the lake and the shoreline <br /> often becomes his battleground with nature. Lake access often means active use <br /> and construction of buildings and structures causing unnatural soil loadings, <br /> vegetation removal, and land alteration. Exposed soil becomes more subject to <br /> erosion and man-made hardcover increases direct runoff quantity and speed. <br /> Power boats increase wave action and, more damaging, stir up the lake bottom <br /> causing release of nutrients and increased turbidity. <br /> The impact, of course, is a degradation of water quality, impaired lake access and <br /> a change in the natural aesthetics which drew people to the shore in the first <br /> place. Legal considerations become entangled when lot descriptions conflict or <br /> become inconsistent due to changing water levels or shoreline locations. <br /> Therefore, planning considerations must recognize the desirability of human <br /> interaction with the lake while at the same time providing for protection of <br /> nature's sensitively balanced shoreline ecology. <br /> Flood protection and floodplain management are extremely important to a <br /> community as closely associated with water resources as is Orono. Orono has <br /> no river system and therefore has no potential for swift, destructive floods in the <br /> typical sense. But general highwater condi�ions have the potential of affecting <br /> many properties by slowly rising water levels, shoreline destruction and high <br /> water tables. Most critical are those residences built on low-lying peninsulas <br /> such as Baldur Park, where a combination of high water levels and wave action <br /> caused by powerboats or high winds may cause severe shoreline erosion. In <br /> addition, flooding of upstream marshes may tend to cause localized backups or <br /> . drainageway overloads. <br /> Orono has participated in the National Flood Insurance Program and has therein <br /> undertaken detailed studies of flood-prone areas. Very few structures are actually <br /> affected but care is necessary to ensure no future flood plain encroachment and <br /> no future loss of natural ponding areas which would result in higher water levels <br /> elsewhere. The general trend seems to be potential for increasing high water <br /> problems as urbanization spreads in other areas of the watershed thereby <br /> reducing natural ground water assimilative capacity, eliminating ponding areas <br /> and increasing storm water runoff quantities and speed. Therefore, Orono will <br /> preserve its wetlands as much as possible to alleviate downstream flooding. <br /> City of Orono Community Management Plan 2008-2030 Page 3A-16 <br />