2009-04-23_AgendaPacket - Laserfiche WebLink

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G '~ _ ;, f ,j L °, ~ =_ :._ i -t ,' ,~-.::;. ,:;`7 ~~, ~~ ~i ,~~~ .~ .,~1Y ii:1: '3H k.:~ ast year, on about 1,500 lakes across Minne- 'I sota, volunteers leaned over the side of their - ~ '.'boats and lowered a white metal disk into the water, carefully measuring how deep the disk descended until it vanished from view. In addition., the volunteers filled out a checklist of subjective judgments about the lake water: Was it crystal clear? Was there floating scum or dead fish in the water? Did the water look inviting for swimming or boating? Or was there such heavy algae growth that any enjoyment of the lake was impossible? Other volunteers in other places lowered buckets into rivers to collect water samples, filled their home refrigerators or freezers with small bottles of river and lake water that would later be analyzed to deter- mine its nitrogen and phosphorus content and waded into wetlands to collect dragonflies, leeches and beetles. Thirty-five years ago, Minnesota began one of the first volunteer water quality monitoring program in the country. That effort, the Citizen Lake Monitoring Program, remains one of the largest such programs in the country. And it has now been joined by dozens Volunteers... Continues on page 6 very three years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires states to review, update and-in many cases-strengthen their water-quality standards. Minnesota is in the middle of one of those reviews, and, for the first time, regulators are proposing setting a standard for phosphorus-a common pollutant that feeds algae growth-in rivers and streams. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency also is considering toughen- ing its standard for nitrate in rivers and lakes by weighing, not just the pollutant's impact on human health, but also its effect on fish and other f~.. ~ ;^ ,,. Betty Lynne, a volunteer water-quality monitor for more than a decade, lowers a Secchi disk into Big Turtle Lake in Beltrami County. organisms in the water. The agency is considering measuring turbitity in a new way and establishing a new standard for a chemical com- pound-nonylphenol-that is formed from chemicals once widely used in industrial detergents and pesticides and in the production of paper. The compound is banned in Europe, and the EPA is working to phase out its use in the U.S. The MPCA has announced its intent to set or upgrade the standards for phosphorus, nitrate and nonyl- phenol, but numerical limits have not been made public. Once the limits are proposed, probably by late spring, citizens will have until £all to infor- mally comment on them. The changes will be subject to a hearing before an administrative law judge next year. The Freshwater Society interviewed Mark Tomasek, a supervisor in the agency's water quality standards unit, about the rule changes: Q. i~hat pre~cess? A. We're undergoing our every-three- year review of water quality standards and looking for those that need updat- ing and considering new standards that we need to adopt to protect the waters of the state of Minnesota, both surface and ground water. MPCA considers... Continues on page 5