---

Part-time Cass County resident Joan Edlund has reached a milestone in her volunteer career - the summer of 2009 marked the 15th year she has been monitoring Thunder Lake through the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's (MPCA) Citizen Lake Monitoring Program (CLMP). Edlund recently received a certificate of recognition and was highlighted in the program's newsletter.

The longest running volunteer lake program in the nation, the CLMP has 1,263 volunteers and 1,237 lakes in the program.

Johanna Schussler, CLMP program coordinator, said, "We really appreciate volunteers like Joan Edlund and others who stick with monitoring over the years." Schussler added that getting consistent monitoring data over several years helps the MPCA determine if water quality in lakes is changing over time.

Other volunteers like Edlund are needed to monitor water quality in Minnesota's 12,000+ lakes during the summer months. Monitoring data gathered by volunteers provide valuable information about the current health of Minnesota's waters. Schussler says that the MPCA is always looking for more volunteers and that many lakes throughout the state lack a CLMP volunteer.[[In-content Ad]]Monitoring is a simple and relatively quick process and the MPCA provides the equipment and training. Volunteers visit a designated spot on one or more lakes weekly, where they drop anchor, make notes of the water's physical condition and recreational suitability, and measure the clarity of the water with a Secchi disk. A Secchi disk is an 8-inch white metal disk that is lowered into the water until it can no longer be seen. The depth, measured by markings on the rope, is a useful indicator of the lake's relative water quality.

The MPCA provides volunteers with everything needed to be a monitor (although lake volunteers need access to a boat or canoe). More information about the volunteer monitoring programs is available on the MPCA's Web site at: www.pca.state.mn.us/cmp or call 1-800- 657-3864.

---