Utah Lake Watch In the News: - State looking for volunteer monitors (Daily Herald)
Utah Lake Watch focuses on studying the health of lakes and reservoirs. Volunteers measure the transparency of the water throughout the summer, providing valuable data on the health of these water bodies. Participants receive yearly reports summarizing the data they collected and explaining what their data means with regards to the health of the waterbody.
See below for more information.
What is Utah Lake Watch?
Utah Lake Watch is a volunteer monitoring program created to keep a record of the water quality in Utah's lakes and reservoirs. This program teaches volunteers how to measure the health of a lake by measuring the transparency of the water.
By participating in this program, you can:
- Contribute to the understanding and protection of Utah's valuable lakes and reservoirs.
- Provide data that may give early warning to any problems occurring in a lake.
- Become better acquainted with lakes and how they function.
- Collect data important to understanding how a lake's water quality is changing over time.
Monitoring the turbidity of Utah lakes benefits all citizens of the state. It can guide legislators and the public toward beneficial practices for both the lakes and the community. The quality of the states lakes and reservoirs is important to all of us, since we all rely on this water for drinking and countless other uses in our daily lives.
Who can participate?
Any person or group may participate who:
- Lives near a lake or visits a lake at least once every two weeks between May and September.
- Has access to a boat (canoe, paddleboat, motorboat, kayak, etc.).
- Has minimal amount of time available that you can dedicate to collecting data.
- Can meet with the Lake Watch coordinator to be trained and supplied with the necessary equipment. These trainings will be set up at your convenience..
Some lakes and reservoirs that still need volunteers:
Strawberry Reservoir
Click here for a full list of lakes and reservoirs needing volunteers.
To participate, please contact:
Eric Peterson
Programs Assistant
USU Water Quality Extension
(435) 797.3310
eric.peterson@aggiemail.usu.edu
What is a Secchi measurement?
Because lake water becomes more turbid as algae proliferate in a lake, the transparency of a lake is a good way to determine its health. The transparency of a lake can be measured easily with a black and white disk, called a Secchi (pronounced sec-ee) disk. The measurement is recorded as the Secchi depth. If the Secchi depth decreases from year to year, it may be getting an over abundance of nutrients which could be harmful for the lakes ecosystem and detrimental to the fish population.
To take a Secchi measurement...
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Lower the weighted Secchi disk into the water until it disappears from sight.
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Raise the disk slowly until it is just back in sight.
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The point at which you can and cannot see the disk is the transparency of the lake.
For further information, or if you would like to participate in this program, please contact:
Eric Peterson
Programs Assistant
USU Water Quality Extension
(435) 797.3310
eric.peterson@aggiemail.usu.edu