|
 |
The Lake Winnipesaukee Watershed Association (LWWA) assists the UNH
Cooperative Extension's Lakes Lay Monitoring Program (UNH LLMP) on
Lake Winnipesaukee. There are approximately 25 volunteer water quality monitors
trained in taking water samples and in carrying out various water quality tests
at over 30 sampling sites on the lake. The information and samples from these
monitors are collected and further analyzed at the UNH laboratory, producing a
meaningful set of data from year to year. The data may be used to detect
early warning signals of potential problems. The state also takes water
quality tests on the lake, but only every 10 years, making our efforts very
important in creating a complete water quality database.
Volunteer Today!
LWWA became involved with water quality monitoring on the lake in 1982
and continues to play an important role in the coordination and expansion of
monitoring taking place from just after ice-out into the early fall every year.
LWWA assists with recruiting and training volunteer water quality monitors, coordinating
the movement of water samples from volunteers to the lab, and seeking out
sponsors to fund the monitoring going on throughout the lake. LWWA manages
funding from most sponsors of sites on Lake Winnipesaukee and plans to act as
the financial agent for the entire monitoring program on Lake Winnipesaukee
in the future. The idea is to let the scientists focus on the technical side
of the program to ensure the best results of water quality data, while
LWWA handles the administrative and organizational aspects of the program.
We also focus on public outreach - promoting the program and publicizing the
data and results.
UNH LLMP monitoring sites on Lake Winnipesaukee.
Lake Aging (Eutrophication)
Excerpt from "Understanding Lake Aging" by Robert Craycraft,
Educational Program Coordinator (UNH LLMP), and Jeff Schloss, UNH
Cooperative Extension Water Resources Specialist.
The process by which lakes age and progress from clear, pristine lakes to
green, nutrient enriched lakes is known as eutrophication. This is a
natural occurrence and can take thousands of years. Some lakes age at a
faster rate than others due to natural attributes, such as watershed
area relative to lake area, slope of the land surrounding the lake, soil
type, mean lake depth, etc. Lakes are also influenced in their rate of plant
growth (aging) through human activities (cultural eutrophication). Chemicals used to
fertilize our lawns are nutrients, which if they enter our lakes stimulate plant
growth and culminate in greener (and less clear) waters. Clearing large tracts
of forested lands for development culminate in increased susceptibility of lakes
to sediment and nutrient loadings. The aging process can be speeded up in
tens of years rather than the natural transitional period of thousands of years.
Lakes are often categorized into trophic states, meaning the level of
lake plant and algae productivity or "greenness". The three trophic
states that lakes are generally categorized into are oligotrophic (pristine), mesotrophic
(transitional), and eutrophic (enriched). Some of the commonly used parameters
to measure the trophic state or age of a lake are chlorophyll a, water
transparency, total phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, and macroscopic plant or weed
abundance.
Oligotrophic lakes are considered "unproductive" pristine
systems and are characterized by high water clarities, low nutrient
concentrations, low algae concentrations, minimal levels of aquatic plant "weed"
growth, and high dissolved oxygen levels near the lake bottom. Eutrophic
lakes are considered "highly productive" enriched systems characterized
by low water transparencies, high nutrient concentrations, high algae concentrations, large
stands of aquatic plants, and very low dissolved oxygen concentrations near
lake bottom. Mesotrophic lakes have qualities between those of the
two mentioned above, with moderate water transparencies, nutrient concentrations,
algae growth, and dissolved oxygen concentrations.
The work that the volunteer water quality monitors undertake each season is
extremely important in measuring the parameters, and providing data to
UNH Cooperative Extension for long term trend analysis of the water quality
of our lakes.
Click here to read the Meredith Bay Water Quality Summary
or the Moultonborough Water Quality Summary.
^ Back to Top ^
|
|
