For the second consecutive year, volunteers are helping monitor the water quality in Bella Vista Village's seven lakes.
Volunteers began weekly monitoring last year. The process was started by the Property Owners Association's Lakes Joint Advisory Committee and member Mike Messerli, with the assistance of POA Lake Ecologist and Fisheries Manager Darrell Bowman. So far, the program has worked fairly well, Bowman said.
A team of volunteers was formed for each lake. Often the teams are formed by residents living on those lakes. Each Monday, a volunteer from each team goes to a specified location -- within a specified window of time -- to collect the data. The data consists of measuring the water temperature, measuring Secchi Disk water transparency and recording the lake level from the gauge located near the dam on each lake.
Volunteers are asked to gather this data between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. each Monday and immediately call or email the information into the lake ecology staff. If data from any lake is not received by 2:30 p.m., lake ecology and fisheries staff will obtain the missing data.
This year, Lynn Manski is coordinating volunteer teams on each lake, since Messerli is no longer serving on the lakes committee. Manski and Bowman met with volunteers at each lake earlier this month to train and distribute equipment. The association provides each team with a kit containing a thermometer, Secchi Disk, water-proof notebook and pen and contact information for reporting data.
"The volunteers save one of us about three hours of work time by getting this data for us each Monday, which is significant since we are back to just two people in the department," Bowman said. "I can't say enough good things about the folks around here that are willing to help us manage the lakes. They want to help and are very giving of their time, and they love the lakes here in Bella Vista Village."
The volunteer information gathered each Monday, along with any notes on observations from the volunteers, helps Bowman plan the week, according to the lake needs demonstrated in the data.
Sports on 04/16/2014