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Conservation_laurel

On The Road

Nov 12/99

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On the Lakes - with Mississippi Valley Conservation's Laurel Grills David Brison

conservation_laurelSeveral weeks ago, I motored (as Hilda Geddes, the Snow Road reporter, is fond of saying) up to Ardoch where I met Laurel Grills at a boat launching area between Malcolm Lake and Ardoch Lake. Laurel is in charge of The Watershed Watch Program, started in 1998, which is monitoring water quality in many of the lakes in our Land O'Lakes region. In the first two years of the program, she has completed measurements on 24 lakes. Laurel is usually accompanied by a volunteer lake steward. Lake stewards are partners in Watershed Watch. They help Laurel collect water samples and then distribute the results to residents on their lakes. A steward wasn't available so I took their place. After launching the conservation authority's aluminum canoe, we paddled, with me in the stern and Laurel in the bow, through an inlet into Ardoch Lake. Our destination was one of the deepest points in the lake (about 30 feet) -- the same location where water samples were taken by the Ministry in 1971 & 1976. When we reached the right spot, she dropped anchor. She first measured the temperature of the water (close to the surface) and the air (both 12.3 C). Next she showed me how to sample water clarity with a deceptively simple device called a Secchi disk, a round black and white disk approximately 8 inches in diameter. The disk is lowered on a rope until you can no longer see it. It's harder than you would think because the image floats in your mind and you can't be sure whether you're seeing it or not. After a few tries, my readings approximated Laurel's. She then took measurements, which I recorded, of total phosphorus, chlorophyll, and dissolved oxygen. Dissolved oxygen was measured at different depths and temperatures. conservation_laurel The day was bright and sunny but the wind came up as we paddled back through the inlet and into Malcolm Lake, and it got noticeably colder. Malcolm Lake is not as deep as Ardoch and we did not measure the dissolved oxygen at different depths and temperatures. We repeated the other measurements and paddled back to the landing with Laurel providing most of the power in the bow. The primary threat to the lakes is nutrient enrichment which causes profuse weed and algae growth leading to fundamental changes in water quality. Nutrient enrichment, resulting primarily from phosphorus entering the water, reduces oxygen levels -- levels necessary for the survival of many desirable fish species. The good news is that the mean phosphorus levels and algae concentrations in the lakes tested in the first phase of the Watershed Watch program (summer of 1998) indicate that the lakes are not nutrient enriched. Water quality is very good. Laurel says that preliminary results from the lakes measured in the summer of 1999 are also promising. Watershed Watch is working its way south and will finish 36 more lakes in the next two summers. Sharbot Lake, Crotch Lake, Dalhousie Lake, amongst others, are still to be done. The NewsWeb will report on the results of Watershed Watch in future issues. Laurel Grills, a knowledgeable and enthusiastic advocate for good environmental practices, can be reached at Mississippi Valley Conservation (they have dropped the Authority from their title): (613) 259-2421

With the participation of the Government of Canada