Would you like to help monitor the health of your favorite lake?

SWCD Program Assistant Theresa Oberg checking water clarity on Leo Lake.

The Cook County Soil and Water Conservation District is once again looking for volunteers to monitor lakes around Cook County for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Citizen Lakes Monitoring Program. Eleven lakes will be targeted for monitoring this year: East Bearskin, Elbow, Gust, Leo, McFarland, Tom, Aspen, West Twin, Little Iron, Iron, and Mayhew. These lakes were chosen because of their priority status in the Cook County Water Plan, their lack of water quality data and/or their potential for development.

Soil and Water will provide training and pay for the cost of analyzing water samples and shipment to the lab. Past volunteers are invited to return and new volunteers are welcome as well.

Water Plan Coordinator Cindy Gentz said, “Lakes such as Caribou and Poplar have benefited from this program in the past by receiving feedback about current water quality trends and the need for land use best management practices. Water quality monitoring allows lake users to see if their practices result in the desired outcome or if more work is needed. Improvements and declines in water quality can be linked to poorly designed development and failing septic systems, among other things.”

Volunteers are asked to take a water sample five times a summer for one to two summers. Volunteers can be any adult with a watercraft willing to get out on the lake about once a month.

Gentz added, “The volunteers of Cook County work hard to protect the natural resources that are the economic engine of this region. In certain parts of the county, lake monitor volunteers have kept an eye on these valuable assets since the 1960s and 1970s.”