How Citizen Lake Monitoring Data is Used

National Information and Statewide Reporting:

• Water Quality reports to Congress: Citizen generated information is used every two years to report trends in Wisconsin lakes and to identify needs to the federal government.
• Great American Secchi Dip-in: Citizen data is collected and analyzed with other data collected nationally to report lake clarity.

Lake and Basin Assessment and Planning

• Numerous lake diagnostic and feasibility studies: Citizen data is used for before and after documentation, as well as to show severity of water quality problems and to set restoration goals. Examples include: Delavan Lake, Fox Lake, Bass Lake, Big Green Lake, and Devils Lake.
• Annual condition reports to individual lake groups and media: Citizen data is summarized and presented annually by volunteers to lake organizations and to the local media to show water quality trends.
• Watershed and Basin Plan preparation: Citizen lake data is summarized in tables and used to express lake water quality conditions and trends. This information is used to set priorities for lake protection, restoration, and funding.

Requests to Wisconsin Legislature

• Request for a phosphorus water quality standard: Citizen data was used to show trophic status of WI lakes to demonstrate the need to limit the phopshorus being discharged from wastewater treatment facilities and to support a ban on phosphate detergents in WI. Legislation passed.
• Request Aquatic Invasive Species Funding and Legislative Language: Volunteer data was utilized to help prepare statewide lists and maps of new invasions of zebra mussels and Eurasian Water milfoil in support of the department's request for funding and policy. We were successful in gaining $300,000 per year for watercraft inspection, invasive species education, monitoring and biological control of purple loosestrife; and strong legislation prohibiting the launching of watercraft with aquatic plants or zebra mussels attached.

Satellite Research

• The University of Wisconsin's Environmental Remote Sensing Center (ERSC) and Self-Help have been partners in Remote Sensing research since 2000. ERSC is using satellite images in conjunction with Self-Help data to develop a set of algorithms to predict basic water quality parameters from LANDSAT data. Collecting sufficient lake data on the variables of interest on dates concurrent with satellite overpass dates would be impossible without volunteer involvement. Go to the Citizen Lake Monitoring Remote Sensing Page
  
  

Long Term Ecological Trends of Northern Temperate Lakes--Kathy Webster, Ph.D. UW-Madison:

• This research used 11+ years of Self-Help data from a set of 50 Wisconsin Long Term Trend Lakes. The data was analyzed to look for trends in individual lakes over the 11-year period. In this research, only four lakes showed long-term trends in two or more water quality variables (Chlorophyll a, Total Phosphorus, or Secchi Depth). However, significant inter-annual variation was observed.