Why Monitor?
There are many reasons to monitor lake quality. Perhaps
you wonder how the lakes quality is for swimming or if the
fish population is in good shape. Maybe you're interested
in keeping tabs on the lake so if its quality appears to
worsen, you'll be alerted to it. What are the impacts upon
the lake of that new housing development? Maybe the lake
has some problems and data is needed to help guide management
decisions.
Setting Objectives
The first step in beginning any lake monitoring program
is to determine your own objectives or purpose for monitoring.
Some typical objectives include learning how the lake functions,
assessing general water quality and trends, or diagnosing
lake problems. Once you've defined your monitoring purpose,
then you can decide where to collect samples, which measurements
to include, and how often. Simple or complex, small budget
or large budget, summer and/or winter your monitoring plan
may not be like anyone elses (and that's OK)!
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