When I first read our 2015 Reports from the Volunteer Lake-Monitoring Program (VLMP) – yes they now have an English name and page – the lyrics of Frank Sinatra’s wonderful classic It Was a Very Good Year came to my mind. Listen to the first few bars if you wish!
The weather last summer was OK and our numbers are there to prove it. Clarity is much better. Phosphorus count (micrograms per litre) is way lower. 3.5 on Black, 3,9 on Boyd, 2.9 on Clear and 3.1 on Curran. Thus, all of our lake are in the oligotrophic* category.
Reflexions on Curran , Lois Gamble
Do take a minute to have a look at the Reports.** There are two of them for each lake . One – the sa-su – give you the 2015 results. The other one – pcp – is the multiyear chart; definitely the most interesting as you can see the trend.
These numbers are very good but – there is always a but – they have limitations as we only take three samples each summer at a depth of one meter, always at the deepest spot of the lake as per the official protocol.
That being said, we now have 10 full years of data that show almost continuous improvement in the quality of our water, we can have more confidence in the reliability our our data.
Bottom line: you all deserve congratulations for good lakeside behavior. Keep it up: make sure your septic system is in good working order and regularly cleaned.
Continuously reinforce your shoreline protection band. Do not use pesticides and fertilizers anywhere near the lake and make sure your property is well drained to limit runoff.
On Twitter, our hashtag*** would be #vigilance4Dunanylakes
Finally, we wish to thank our dedicated collaborators on each lake. John Parsons on Black, Rick Havill on Boyd, François Côté on Clear and Sheryl Jacksom-Caron on Curran. This year, Jim and Lois Finch will take over on Black. Thanks John for all you have done during all these years.
* An oligotrophic lake is characterized by a low accumulation of dissolved nutrient salts, supporting but a sparse growth of algae and other organisms, and having a high oxygen content owing to the low organic content.
** The Reports are only available in French at this time. Numbers are different from last year’s but not the text which you can read in English in 2014 Lake Reports..
***A hashtag is a type of label or metadata tag used on social network and micro blogging services which makes it easier for users to find a message.
Jacques
That’s a lot of information. Thank you for assembling it for us to read. I didn’t understand everything but got the general message that our lakes are less acidic and have less growth in them. Clear Lake came out on top it seems. We’re so lucky for all this “almost” purity. I will leave the testing to the experience tester volunteers. We all needed that good news, thanks for providing it.
Claudette
Jacques, thanks for compiling these reports and educating us on making sure our lakes will be better for our future kids!!!! Keep up the great work!!!!
Sergio
Great news. Thank you Jacques for keeping up the Dunany Volunteer spirit. I think I write for all the unheard voices who say “Merci Jacques”. Spring seems to be on it’s way. Looking forward to our get togethers. We all love Dunany in our own way. You sure set a great example.