Illinois Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program Newsletter: October 2001

              End of 2001 Season Wrap-Up
Special points of interest:
• End of Season Wrap-Up.
• NALMS 21st International Sym-posium
Highlights.
• ILMA conference, April 18-20,
2002.
• Illinois EPA/ILMA scholarship
program.
Inside this issue:
Notes from the Statewide Coordinator 2
Web-based Volunteer Database 2
IEPA/ILMA Scholarship Program 2
Lake Notes Factsheets 3
NALMS 2001 3
Water Quality Results 4, 5
Secchi Disk Spruce-Up 5
Who to Contact 6
ILMA Conference 2001 6
Water Quality Results: What do they mean?
Have you ever wondered what it means to
get a total phosphorus level of 0.06 mg/L
or an ammonia nitrogen level of 0.70 mg/L
in your lake? What does it mean if your
lake is turbid or clear? How do chlorophyll
and phosphorus play a role in telling a story
about your lake trophic status?
The answers to these questions can be
found in a very useful Lake Notes publica-tion
called “Common Lake Water Quality
Parameters.” A summary of that data can
be found below. Keep in mind these num-bers
are used by Illinois EPA merely as
guidelines for lake water quality assess-ments.
There are many other contributing
factors used when making an overall char-acterization
of the water quality of lakes.
Continued on page 4
1021 North Grand Avenue East
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, IL 62794-9276
Illinois Environ- October 2001
mental
Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program
ILLINOIS
NEWSLETTER
Congratulations! You’ve all made it through
another sample season, making the VLMP’s
21st year quite a success. Now what? For
first year and veteran volunteers alike, the
following is a list of tips for proper mainte-nance
of your monitoring equipment for the
off season:
• If you are finished taking Secchi read-ings
for the season, remember to bring
your Secchi in from the boat, dry off the
disk and rope and store in a dry area,
like your garage or basement. Sun and
other weather exposure will fade and
rust the Secchi. Don’t forget to bring in
the color chart as well.
• Send in all Secchi data forms that you
may still have. Check for completeness
and keep your pink copy.
• For those in the Water Quality program,
remember to rinse with water all equip-ment
(graduated cylinder, plastic flask,
filtering cup, half gallon jug). Do not use
any detergents, as it will affect sample
analysis. Dry the equipment and store in
the provided Rubbermaid containers or
something similar in a dry place, like a
garage or basement. DO NOT rinse any
remaining sample collection bottles. The
nutrient bottles (ones with the yellow
stickers on them) contain acid for pres-ervation.
• Please keep all equipment until May
2002, when new water quality partici-pants
are established and equipment is
re-distributed.
• Please keep all unused sample collec-tion
bottles and they will be picked up
along with the other equipment for re-distribution
in May 2002.
In February or March, you will receive a new
2002 VLMP Registration Form. Fill that out
and send it back in to take part in the
VLMP’s 22nd season.