Lake Water Monitoring
Our water committee has continued to meet and work actively on developing a better understanding of the lake basin and for the safety of everyone will be undertaking both a water quality monitoring program and research program again this summer. We also have several teams of students from area universities doing research to help us better understand our lake ecosystem.
We still have a serious issue with an overabundance of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen getting into the lake that is setting the stage for serious future problems be it algae, e-coli or cyanobacteria.
Not only will we need to closely monitor the safety of the lake (as other Canadian lakes with cyanobacteria issues saw dog and cattle deaths this past year) we need to find ways to significantly decrease the nutrient loading of the lake and remove existing nutrients being found in concerning levels to reduce the potential for future issues. Everyone needs to consider phosphorus filters on their septic tanks – particularly for any new systems or septics being upgraded.
Similar to last year there will be a Lake Association Annual Fee surcharge to help offset the costs of these very expensive tests and research. You can learn more at the Lake Association website – www.sunfishlake.ca and we will keep you posted as monitoring gets underway in the weeks ahead.
Thanks again to Nancy, Rob, and Bob for all the hours they have volunteered on our water issues.