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Friday, 31 August 2007 |
By B.J. BETHEL
Staff Writer
CELINA — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) snapshot of the nation’s lakes Thursday included a glimpse into Grand Lake St. Marys.
The U.S. EPA tested Grand Lake St. Marys as part of a program to get a look at the health of the nations lakes. Officials tested 909 lakes nationally, including 19 in Ohio for indicators such as trophic state, ecological health and recreation factors.
Officials selected the lakes randomly. Other test lakes in the area included Lake Loramie and Indian Lake.
The information collected from the testing will be sent to federal laboratories. Once work is completed, a report will be released in 2009. Linda Masonbrink, an environmental specialist with the EPA’s division of surface water, said the amount of lab work is the reason for the wait.
“There are a lot of different things being sampled,” Masonbrink said. “A lot of the work is done under the microscope.”
Lakes that are 10 acres and larger and at least one meter (3-feet, 3-inches) in depth were considered for the survey.
Factors tested include trophic indicators, which include water chemical quality and nutrient concentrations.
Dissolved oxygen also is tested, which is a necessity due to it being key to the health of fish.
Ecological factors included macro-invertebrates and zoo plankton.
Recreational factors consider the affect of the lake on the health of people who spend time in the lake, such as pathogen indicators and algal toxins as well as sediment mercury.
The algal indicators are important in Grand Lake St. Marys due to the abundance of blue-green algae in the lake. The toxins produced by algae only occur at certain times.
“Most lakes have algae,” Masonbrink said. “There is an overabundance here due to the nutrients coming into the lake.”
Grand Lake St. Marys State Park Director Craig Morton said the beaches have been healthy.
He said the last time they had problems with their sample readings was in 2003, due to massive flooding.
The lake testing project was the brainchild of members of Congress.
“They wanted to know, at one point in time, the condition of the nation’s lakes,” Masonbrink said.
The Ohio EPA is using the program as a starting point for one of its own. The Ohio EPA has yet to sample on a large scale for 10 years.
The federal program is the first nationwide effort of its kind.
The health of Grand Lake St. Marys has been of local concern for years. Organizations like the Lake Improvement Association, Lake Restoration Committee and the Grand Lake Wabash/Watershed Alliance work to establish programs to help clean it up.
Masonbrink said the lake’s health is on the radar of the Ohio EPA.
“We’re very concerned,” Masonbrink said. “We know there are a lot of issues. We are more than willing to participate.”
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Last Updated ( Monday, 03 September 2007 )
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