2005-01-27_AgendaPacket - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Pamela Skon, VOLUNTEER MONTI'ORING COORDINATOR MII~ olunteer citizen water monitoring is a critical component in understanding and educating Minnesotans about water- quality issues. Volunteers can raise community awareness of these issues and provide valuable data that are used for decision making. Volunteers can choose their level of involvement, from participation in a single- parameter program like the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's (MPCA) Citizen Lake Monitoring Program (which provides Secchi disk measurements) to participating in the develop- ment and implementation of an intensive water- monitoring plan that collects a variety of data. Recently the MPCA completed a 10- yearstrategy which outlines how data from differ- ent sources are used in assessing Minnesota's waters. Minnesotan Water Quality Monitoring Strategy for 2004-2014 outlines how the MPCA is going to take steps to increase the monitoring and assessment of streams and lakes in the state. This four-part strategy relies on a variety of data sources: remote sensing, agenry-collected data, locally collected data, and citizen data. The strat- egy was developed with the impaired waters stakeholder group, a broadly based group devel- oping an overall approach for addressing the problem of Minnesotan impaired waters. The four parts of the strategy rely on each other to provide the most comprehensive monitoring picture for Minnesota. Detailed data collection (by the MPCA and other organiza- tions} provides the scientific rigor necessary to ensure confidence in the data collected.. Citizen monitoring (Secchi disk and transparency tube) and remote sensing provide broad-scale coverage of water quality across the state at a frequenry NESOTA POLLUTION CONTROL AGENCY ability of Minnesotans to collect ..water-quality data. This enhancement was and continues to be provided by the Minnesota Lakes Association and the Rivers Council of Minnesota through Monitoring Plan Training and skills workshops in 2003 and 2004. Monitoring Plan Training,. a pilot proj- ect, takes a lake or river group through the process of determining the who, what, where, when, why, and how"a group is going to monitor its water- body. Three days of training provides groups with the tools necessary to move forward with a planned approach to water-quality monitoring.. Skills trainings, ranging from data analysis training to learning how to use monitor- ing equipment, provide a more specific piece of the monitoring puzzle. This can help a river or lake group focus on areas where its monitoring program needs improvement. With over 92,000 miles of streams and over 11,000 lakes in Minnesota, it is crucial for citizens to be involved in caring for their streams and lakes. Currently, the MPCA has assessed only 8 percent of the streams and 14 percent of the lakes in Minnesota. Requirements for the data quality necessary for use in assessments (number of samples, use of certain techniques for collection, etc.) can be found in the MPCAs Volunteer Surface Water Monitoring Guide. The guide is available from the MPCA (ca11800-657- 3864) or on the Web at: http://www.pcastate.mn.us/water/ monitoringguide.html Since 1994, the amount of data from outside organizations used in 'assessments is increasing. For assessments, in 1994, only 6 with Over 92,®®® mZleS Of streams and over 11, 000 lakes in Minnesota, it is crucial for citizens to be involved in caring for their StreaYlZS and lakes. necessary to ensure appropriate targeting and , percent of the data used were solely from organi- ' ~ ~'~~- pnoriry setting. This will be used to help target ' zations other than the MPCA. In 2004 that p ~ ~ ` the rigorous monitoring done by the MPCA'. number grew to 21 percent. '~ ~ ~ 1 ~ The Le islative Commission on g ` B - utilizin the Volunteer Surface ~ Y g ' ~ ~~,, ' ; Accelerating Minnesota Resources funded the Water Monitoring Guide and training oppot and Enhancing Surface Water Monitoring tunities provided by the Minnesota '~° 1I Project" in 2003. This three-year project involves Lakes Association, Rivers Councrl of ~ components of the monitoring strategy, accelerat- Minnesota, or other local organizations, ing the development of biological monitoring citizens can provide data useful for determ- ~ indices and remote sensing, and enhancing the fining trends and the assessment process. ' Page 10 ~~ tr, ~`h.. ^'A'~ ~. f :~ ~, ~ ' a~, ~~~ ~~~, e~ ~ ~;t. ~'~ i i; ~ ,. ~ ~~ `_.,~ t ~ ~~' ~:~-.