2024-Jul-16
Could Our Lakes Benefit From a Human Healthcare Approach?
A new study is recommending the application of human health care approaches to lake health. Like humans, lakes are living systems that can suffer from a number of health issues. Regular screenings, similar to human checkups, including testing water samples or installing sensors could help detect problems early and prevent them from becoming critical or chronic issues.
The Lake Partner Program is a simple way you can help monitor Bay health
The Lake Partner Program (LPP) is a province-wide, volunteer-based, water-quality monitoring program. We, as citizen scientists, have the potential to contribute to the province-wide sampling effort that generates annual snapshots of important water quality parameters for free. These include phosphorus (a nutrient required by algae, but also the cause of algal blooms when in excess), calcium (used by all living things to a greater or lesser extent but decreasing in lakes across the Canadian Shield) and chloride (increasing to dangerous levels in some areas primarily due to road salt application). Tracking these data over time can be a very useful way to assess potential changes in lake health.
The LPP is interested in taking on new volunteers so please reach out to lakepartner@ontario.ca for more information and get signed up to help out for next year!
The LPP is interested in taking on new volunteers so please reach out to lakepartner@ontario.ca for more information and get signed up to help out for next year!
Read more about applying human healthcare strategies to lake health here.
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