The Kennebec Estuary Land Trust (KELT) presents its annual environmental lecture, Water Quality of the Estuary, at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. The lecture will detail KELT's water sampling and water quality programs begun in 2012. Program highlights, collaborations, and results will be shared by KELT's Project Coordinator Ruth Indrick and Bowdoin College Professor Michèle LaVinge's marine biogeochemistry class.

The Kennebec Estuary is where the fresh waters that flow into Merrymeeting Bay and out along the lower Kennebec River meet and mix with the salty water of the Gulf of Maine. A rich and diverse habitat, it is important to understand natural and human-made impacts on this environment, especially as the estuary supports various fishing and tourism industries in the region.

Since 2012, more than 20 volunteers have helped to collect 526 water samples from 19 sites in the Kennebec Estuary for KELT's volunteer sampling program. Information collected and measured by volunteers about temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and pH will be shared during the fall lecture along with what the numbers mean for Kennebec Estuary waters.

KELT's water sampling program started as a collaboration between KELT, Maine Department of Marine Resources, and local shellfish committees three years ago when the priority was opening shellfish flats to clam diggers. By 2013, many of the highest priority shellfish flats that could be open, were opened for harvesting. At that point, KELT expanded the focus on the greater estuary waters to learn more about the characteristics that describe the quality of water, i.e. temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and pH.

A $5 donation is suggested for the evening lecture. The Maine Maritime Museum is located at 243 Washington Street in Bath. The lecture is generously sponsored by Bath Savings Trust Company and Merrymeeting Bay Trust.