Is Lake Champlain contaminated? If so, what causes this contamination? What is really in the water of Lake Champlain?
You have questions, I have answers! In my research project, I seek to discover the answer to questions regarding water quality within Lake Champlain. I also seek to undercover what kind of contaminants are within the Lake and what processes can be done to curb this ongoing issue once and for all. Look beyond the blue, clear water of Lake Champlain in Burlington Bay and you might see something like this picture taken from a Lake Champlain Basin Atlas:
Water contamination within the Lake Champlain water basin has been a growing problem since the urbanization of many cities along the shores. As a result, contamination has become rampant within the lake. Some forms of contamination within the lake include but are not limited to high concentrations of phosphorous, eutrophication blooms, PCBs, mercury, and E. coli place Lake Champlain on a “high priority” status list. In my research project, I will be addressing these contaminants as well as how they can be contained and water quality can become better for the people who rely on the lake for a host of different purposes. Here is a picture taken from the Lake Champlain Basin Atlas that shows phosphorous loading by land use in different areas of the lake:
Although Lake Champlain looks like a clean, pristine lake, it suffers from severe contamination on several levels. For example, eutrophication is a large problem within Lake Champlain. According to Living in the Environment by Tyler Mller, Jr and Scott E. Spoolman, eutrophication is described as “physical, chemical, and biological changes that take place after a lake, estuary, or slow-flowing stream receives inputs of plant nutrients – mostly nitrates and phosphates – from natural erosion and runoff from the surrounding land basin”.
Because of its size, Lake Champlain does not just affect the residents of Vermont; it also concerns residents of New York as well as Canada. Lake Champlain serves many different purposes for the communities. On top of serving recreational needs for residents on the shores of the lake, Lake Champlain also serves agricultural needs. It is also an aesthetic backdrop for these water communities, especially Burlington! Steps need to be made in order to curb water contamination within the lake before it’s too late!
The above picture is one of a man who is part of the U.S. Geological survey (and the picture is taken from the U.S. Geological website) who is checking out water in Lake Champlain.Currently, the Lake Champlain Basin Program is helping to fund projects to study the water contamination within the lake. The U.S. Geological Survey is also completing a “five year study to understanding of mercury and methyl-mercury movement in the Lake Champlain Basin”. The total funding for this extensive project totals over $700,000. The U.S. Geological survey is also conducting a survey that was initiated in 2006 to determine the presence of a new class of water contamination within the lake (nh.water.usgs.gov). The Lake Champlain Research Consortium, NOAA and the Lake Champlain Sea Grant (LCSG) are also participating in similar efforts to study the impact of water contamination within the Lake Champlain basin.
Water issues are a passion of mine. I firmly believe that the water contamination within Lake Champlain needs to be seriously considered. As well as having adverse affect on biodiversity within the lake, the impacts of water contamination also adversely affect the humans that are involved with lake life as well. In researching this project, I have made it my duty to make people more aware of the water contaminants lurking within the lake and hope that my passion rubs off on them. I, like researchers, will be conducting water test studies in order to bolster my evidence and making my work more credible. Although eliminating water contamination is not something that can be solved on a short term basis, I believe that, if given enough time and putting in enough passion, Lake Champlain can be cleaned up and people will not have to worry about alarming amounts of contamination within Lake Champlain’s water.
The picture of a protest regarding our water and our land (taken from Indymedia) says it all; water belongs to us and it needs to be cherished. I will produce pictures of the contaminants and their affect on posters as well as conduct water tests to convince my audience as to why they should act now and help to clean up the Lake Champlain water basin. Pictures will affect the limbic brain and this emotional transfer will make people more willing to want to help clean up the Lake and act now. I will also show videos of the lake and the state that it’s in now in order to further convince my audience to want to stand behind me and help to clear up the contaminants within the lake.
Last but not least, the bibliography! They say we save the best for last, right? Here are sources that I have so far for my research paper regarding water contamination in Lake Champlain.
1. Lake Champlain Basin Atlas (Program), Anonymous, 2004 - http://www.lcbp.org/atlas/html/is_health.htm
2. Preventing Pollution from Toxic Substances, Lake Champlain Basin Atlas - http://nh.water.usgs.gov/champlain_feds/toxic.htm
3. Lake Champlain- Partnerships and Research in the New Millennium, Thomas Owen Manley, Patricia Lee Manley, Timothy B. Mihuc, Lake Champlain
Research Consortium, 2004 -
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=61EJJ8XEZvwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA
191&dq=lake+champlain+phosphorus&ots=t3kGABnqoM&sig=NvsjH3JmvNZn
LDmXR4VdErWY8wc#v=onepage&q=lake%20champlain%20phosphorus
&f=false
4. Living in the Environment, G. Tyler Miller, Scott E. Spoolman, 2009
5. Harbor Watch, Jeff Meyers, Mercury Pollution in the Lake Champlain Basin, 1999-
http://www.harborwatch.com/news/mercury_pollutionin_the_lake_cha.htm
