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Students compiling vital water quality data

by Donna Emert
| September 27, 2010 9:00 PM

FERNAN LAKE - Everything is relative. That much University of Idaho student Andy Mueller has already confirmed through his research.

Mueller is one of five UI and North Idaho College students who have been monitoring water quality in the region's lakes and streams this past summer. The research is funded by the National Institutes for Health and delivered through the Idaho IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence.

Mueller is collecting new and compiling older data on Lake Fernan. His research continues through October.

Over the past several years, citizen groups including the Fernan Lake Watershed Technical Advisory Committee and the Fernan Lake Conservation and Recreation Association have sporadically collected data on nitrate and phosphate levels in the lake. Nitrate and phosphate loads directly impact the amount of algae in the water.

For the past four months, Mueller has been systematically monitoring for nitrates, phosphates, chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen and E.coli.

"That's all to get an idea if there are any contaminants getting into the water, like an accidental septic leak," Mueller said. "If there were anything like that, this is how it would show up."

Working with Fernan Lake Village City Council and Mayor Jim Elder, Mueller is compiling data from past tests with his more recent findings. That information will serve as a baseline of comparison, to help monitor the health of the lake in coming years.

"This is a significantly larger portion of data than they've had in any other year," said Mueller. "We have nothing really to compare it to. For the most part, the lake is healthy. In the shallower areas the dissolved oxygen levels appear low, but aren't bad. It could be very normal for this lake. We just don't know because we don't have the research to we can look back on and compare the new data to."

In general, it's good to have dissolved oxygen in our bodies of water and bad to have oxygen levels low enough to be classified as anaerobic, said Rhena Cooper, professor of microbiology at NIC and Idaho INBRE Outreach Core Coordinator for University of Idaho.

"It is the same thing that your dental hygienist is monitoring in your mouth: good aerobic levels, and no deep anaerobic pockets leading to decay impacting health. The long term environmental goal is to maintain our levels of dissolved oxygen for lake health," Cooper said.

Nitrates and phosphates in Fernan Lake are currently below traceable levels.

That's a good sign, Mueller said, since high nitrate and phosphate loads can indicate septic systems or fertilizers draining into the water.

Mueller's data is an important piece of an unfolding story.

"We need to know what phosphate levels are natural to the water," said Mueller. "We need to know what's typical of the lake. It's simply a number right now, but in future years, water quality monitors will be able to compare these numbers to the new data they collect, and be able to spot general trends."

As funds from federal and state agencies have diminished, the students' work has become even more important, said Cooper.

"Water is one of our area's best resources, and a driving factor in our economy, so gathering and monitoring baseline data is imperative," she said.

Donna Emert is with University of Idaho Communications.