P.O. Box 217, Lake Anna, VA 23117-0217
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LAKE ANNA WATER QUALITY MONITORING:
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Lake Anna Civic Association Volunteers turn out every two months from April through October to
assess the Lake’s water quality.On the week just prior to monitoring the lake, all volunteers meet
at the Lake Anna State Park to refresh their monitoring skills and receive equipment and supplies
needed for the following week’s monitoring event. That training session is conducted by Bob Weiner,
the Monitoring Project Leader. Bob is assisted by three Group Leaders, Mary Ellen Gargus, Ken Remmers,
and Jerry Sutts, each of whom coordinates training and deployment of volunteers on the “warm side,”
and the southern and northern portions of the lake, respectively.
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About 20 volunteer team pilots their boats to their stations on the
lake by 9:00 AM, at which time they begin to run through their checklist of tasks aimed at guarding
us and the lake waters from impairment by pathogens (such as E. coli bacteria), and conditions
which cause the waters to be hostile to living organisms such as fish and aquatic plants.
Each water quality monitoring team measures quality parameters such as temperature,
water clarity, pH (a measure of acidity), and dissolved oxygen, all of which are indicators of water health.
In addition, each team collects samples of water to be analyzed later by the Commonwealth’s laboratory
in Richmond for E. coli bacteria and the concentration of phosphorus in the water.
Phosphorus from fertilizers and waste treatment plants is a nutrient which can promote the growth of algae,
which in turn can consume dissolved oxygen and endanger aquatic life.
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After measuring the water quality parameters and collecting water samples, volunteers return to their to complete final measurements and record results on monitor data sheets. Each team must bring its iced water samples and record sheets to one of two collection points by 1:00 PM. The Dickenson Store at the corner of Routes 522 and 208, and the Barn on Route 601 provide handy collection points for volunteers coming from the northern and southern sections of Lake Anna, respectively. More volunteers gather the samples and data sheets from these collection points and deliver them to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) monitoring team at Dukes Creek Marina by 3:00 PM. The DEQ team has also been on the lake monitoring four or five sites for a wider range of parameters than those monitored by volunteers. The DEQ team is assisted in their monitoring by expensive electronic probes which allow rapid measurement of their wider range of parameters.
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