For the past two years. Bob Crawford has been monitoring Lake Wassookeag for water clarity. Bob is a member of the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program (VLMP). He has attended training sessions in order to be qualified to take Secchi Disc readings which determine water quality in Lake Wassookeag. According to Scott Williams, Executive Director of the program. "it is a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of Maine lakes and ponds through the acquisition of scientific data, and to enhance public awareness about the sensitivity and value of our water resources".
Our Association Supports these ideals
Volunteer lake monitors make an enormous contribution to the State of Maine every year. Scott Williams was a speaker at last year's Dexter Lakes Association annual meeting. Our contact with this group has been very helpful to our young organization.
We would like to be able to increase our testing ability to include the monitoring of dissolved oxygen, phosphorus and chlorophyll levels as well as other chemical and biological information.
Quinn Dillon from Exeter, Maine, who is a friend of the Dexter Lakes Association conducted extensive tests of mercury levels in lake fish in 50 Maine Lakes. Lake Wassookeag was not part of his study but he did test the yellow perch from our lake. The perch tested 0.28 ppm which is well over the Safe Eating Reference Dose.
Mercury pollution comes from elsewhere, but the more we are able to evaluate what is happening on Lake Wassookeag and inform the public, the better chance we will have to keep the lake safe and clean.
A special thanks to Bob for all his hard work! -Ed Graham