Vermont Business Magazine The Lake Champlain Committee (LCC) is recruiting citizens interested in water quality to serve as cyanobacteria monitors for Lake Champlain and select inland Vermont lakes. LCC will host training sessions starting June 6 for new and returning monitors. The program provides critical data on where and when blooms are happening and is relied on by health, environmental and recreation agencies to keep people informed about lake conditions.
LCC initiated the citizen-based near-shore monitoring program in 2003 and has steadily expanded the network of trained volunteers and monitoring sites every year. During the 2016 season LCC monitors submit nearly 1,200 reports from over 100 sites on Lake Champlain and several inland lakes. The focus of the cyanobacteria monitoring program is to raise awareness of the issue, build a database of information on bloom frequency, and identify and publicize potential health hazards.
"Our family enjoys spending time in and around Lake Champlain. Being a part of the LCC monitoring program has enabled us to know when the lake water is safe to swim in and has increased our awareness of the changes in the lake," said Sheila Chairvolotti. She and her three children have monitored three Lake Champlain shoreline locations since 2013. "Monitoring our three locations is an easy way for our family to help others in our community be able to use the lake safely."
Citizen monitoring reports are vetted by LCC and environmental partners and then relayed to local, regional, state and provincial environmental, health and recreation staff. Weekly results from locations around Lake Champlain and select inland lakes are posted on a cyanobacteria data tracker map hosted by the Vermont Department of Health and accessible to anyone with internet access. The data tracker will go live the first week of the 2017 monitoring season.
The Lake Champlain Committee will host training sessions in New York and Vermont for citizens interested in serving as monitors or wanting to learn more about water quality. The presentations will last about an hour and a half and provide background about cyanobacteria (aka blue-green algae), guidance on how to differentiate it from other lake phenomena, instructions for assessing water conditions, and actions to take to reduce blooms. The training sessions are free and open to the public but pre-registration is requested via this online form.
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