Interactive Map of Water Quality Data for Lake Winnipesaukee Now On Line

MEREDITH — Getting water quality data for Lake Winnipesaukee out to the general public has proven a challenge over the years. Two volunteer lake sampling programs; the NH Department of Environmental Service's Volunteer Lake Assessment Program (VLAP), and the University of New Hampshire Center for Freshwater Biology's "Lakes Lay Monitoring Program" (LLMP), as well as data collected by NH Department of Environmental Services staff and independent sampling studies conducted within communities, means there is a lot of water quality data 'floating' around. Gathering and housing this data in one database has been the goal of the NH DES' Environmental Monitoring Database (EMD) in order to present as complete a picture as possible of the water quality for a particular waterbody.

Volunteer water quality monitoring on Lake Winnipesaukee has been operated through the UNH LLMP for approximately twenty-five years. Traditionally the UNH LLMP provides water quality reports to the groups that sponsor the monitoring. These reports provide an excellent nontechnical summary of the results and the parameters sampled, as well as detailed water quality data for the season, and comparisons of the data to previous years.

With funding obtained from the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration and the Pardoe Foundation, the Lake Winnipesaukee Watershed Association and the Lakes Region Planning Commission contracted with Applied Geographics, Inc. and GreenInfo Network to bring the available data housed in the EMD to life in a visual format. The goal was to convey the water quality data for the lake in a snapshot.

The map, which can be found on the Winnipesaukee Gateway website (http://winnipesaukeegateway.org/), offers the user the ability to access a summary of the water quality data at various sampling stations for three parameters; phosphorus, chlorophyll-a, and secchi disk depth for the entire lake. The range of colors shown in the legend follows the current NH State Nutrient Criteria standards established in 2010 for Total Phosphorus and Chlorophyll-a.

Users will have the option to look at data from the most recent sampling season for each parameter, or change the map to display other options, such as the average reading for the last 10 yrs. or the average reading for all years sampled. Empty circles outlined in blue indicate sites that are either not currently monitored or not analyzed for a particular parameter. Many of the clear circles represent historical sites, which were actively sampled in the 1980-90's, but have not had sampling conducted within the last 10 years.

Clicking on a station will bring up a table of information for that site; station identification, monitoring program, contact information, sponsor, and a summary of the available data.

A look at the phosphorus map shows a lot of white dots, with some lighter and darker orange spots concentrated in the Moultonborough Bay Inlet area and a few scattered elsewhere on the lake. While this may not look very dramatic it clearly shows that phosphorus levels in the lake as a whole are below 8 ug/L, which is considered good for aquatic life. Moultonborough Bay Inlet's phosphorus values are generally higher than elsewhere. This is not surprising as this area of the lake has a high occurrence of milfoil and phosphorus is not only a necessary nutrient or food for plant growth, it is also part of a plant's structure.

Those interested in becoming a Lakes Lay Monitor or in sponsoring a site, can contact LWWA at 581-6632. There are many sites that currently lack both volunteers and sponsors for the water testing.