On June 21, 2007, Paul Smith's College professor Mike DeAngelo and Lisa DeAngelo, came to deliver the Sylvia Lake Association's water testing kit and to perform tests that our resident volunteers were unable to do last Fall. Now that we have a testing kit on site, we can be much more flexible with the testing schedule.

The Sylvia Lake board continues to focus on the importance of water quality. We are in year two of the Adirondack Lake Assessment Program. The ALAP measures leading parameters that provide information about the health and aging process of a lake or pond. These parameters include transparency, pH, alkalinity, conductivity, concentrations of chlorophyll-a, calcium, phosphorus, nitrate, and dissolved oxygen, among others. Read more about the Adirondack Lake Assessment Program in their brochure.

The goals of the ALAP are two-fold. First, to gather useful, scientifically valid information on a particular lake or pond to inform those associated with this water body about its overall condition and trends. Groups or individuals can use this information for long-term planning for a healthy lake or pond. Second, to establish a profile of water quality conditions and trends across the Adirondack Park. As mentioned above, despite the importance of water in the Adirondacks to the local economy, character of our communities, quality of life, and the environment, we know very little about most of the lakes and ponds in the Adirondacks." (from Residents Committee to Protect the Adirondacks)

Our water testing team includes Carlton Force, Faye and David Lockwood, Lea Dickson, Shari Barnhart, Jeanette Perry, and David McGrath. Jody Hatch is also a water testing volunteer and is waiting to be trained. If there are any others out there who would like to become involved in the water testing, contact any of the current volunteers. The training will be scheduled for this summer. The water testing kit, shown below, contains the equipment for performing most of the required tests.

At the spring board meeting, the Sylvia Lake Board voted to purchase a water testing kit that can stay here at the lake. Prior to this, we had to wait our turn to borrow a kit from the St. Lawrence Soil and Water Conservation District in Canton, NY.

A lake association, individual, family, or group can easily monitor a given lake or pond, a process that takes about 90 minutes once a month. All volunteers are trained. Each group or individual who monitors a lake or pond is provided with a monitoring kit and bottles and filters for each three month monitoring season - June, July and August.

Frozen samples are delivered for analysis to the AAI laboratory at Paul Smiths College. At the end of each season, an annual report is produced for each water body enrolled. (from article, Adirondack Residents Learn to Monitor Lake Water Quality)