Last week, Franklin County NRCD staff joined up with local stakeholders to discuss updates in the Lake Carmi watershed. Lake Carmi Coordination meetings gather community members together to provide updates to monitoring efforts, stormwater and agricultural projects, and the hard work local community members are doing to improve Lake Carmi water quality.
Alum Feasibility Study
One of the highlights of this season's Coordination Meeting was Keith Pilgrim's update on the Lake Carmi alum feasibility study. Alum treatments are chemical treatments used to reduce the amount of bioavailable phosphorus in a lake system. Lake Carmi community members have been eager to know if an alum treatment could act as a potential solution to legacy phosphorus in the lake.
While members of the Coordination Meeting remain hopeful, additional information is needed to determine whether an alum treatment is a viable solution for Lake Carmi. Keith has taken various sediment samples throughout the lake in order to determine phosphorus concentrations at the lake's bottom. This in turn will help determine the cost of the alum treatment. The data from these sediment samples has yet to be fully reviewed, and there is more information to come.
Franklin County NRCD Best Management Practice Inventory
During this season's Coordination Meeting, the Franklin County NRCD shared a presentation about the work we have done throughout 2023 in the Lake Carmi watershed. In addition to our education Watershed Workshop Series, which ended in September, we have conducted 14 Lake Wise evaluations at Lake Carmi lakeshore properties, and continued our Best Management Practice assessment. We are working with the Franklin Watershed Committee and Fitzgerald Environmental Associates, iwth support from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. This BMP assessment includes an inventory of complete, in progress, and potential BMP projects in the stormwater, natural resources, and agricultural sectors throughout the Lake Carmi watershed.
Why We Keep Going
To close out the meeting, the Franklin Watershed Committee shared a video of an algal bloom that occurred during the first week of September 2023. This visualization serves as a reminder of why we do the work we do: to help repair and improve lake water quality. The Franklin County NRCD is committed to supporting the Lake Carmi community as we work toward water quality solutions.
