Author Archives: Rita Brooks

Press Release: STUDYING THE LAKE

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On August 15th the  combined team, in the photo below, gathered to begin assessing the cause of increased phosphate in Lake Fairlee. Four members of the Vermont Department of Environment Conservation joined four members of the Lake Fairlee Association “Water Quality Action Committee” for a “get to know” overview of the lake. From the information gained on the tour, plans will be made for what measurements will be needed to better assess the lake health. Multiple hypotheses still remain to understand the increase of nutrients in the lake.

Attending (from left to right) David Forbes LFA volunteer, Jennifer Byrne WRNRCD, Mark Mitchell NRDC, Jennifer Owczarski VDEC, Cleo Keerns LFA volunteer, Lisa Niccolai WRNRCD, John Mc Minley LFA volunteer, Dale Gephart LFA volunteer, Seated: John Tarbel VCDP volunteer Lake Monitor, LFA, and boat captain

Lake Fairlee Water Quality Action Committee

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The mission of the Lake Fairlee Water Quality Action Committee is to develop, on behalf of the Lake Fairlee Association (LFA), a plan to deal with rising phosphate levels in Lake Fairlee.  The lake is becoming eutrophic.

A eutrophic lake is characterized by an accumulation of nutrients that support a dense growth of algae, the decay of which depletes the shallow waters of oxygen in summer. 

Members of the committee are Fred Peterson, Ridge Satherthwait, Cleo Kerns, John McKinley, and Dale Gephart (Chair). Minutes of the meeting will be posted along with relevant materials that are generated by the committee or other sources.

The State of Vermont provides information on the status of Vermont lakes on their website. They have developed a scorecard for lake quality and you can find the Lake Fairlee Scorecard here.

Dale Gephart presented to the attendees of the July 27, 2019 Lake Fairlee Association Meeting. Information from his presentation is available here Gephard Presentation LFA Meeting July 2019.

Meeting Minutes:

Minutes LFA-WQAC 7-27-2019