Submitted by Don Meals (not verified) on Thu, 04/19/2012 - 11:27am.
Sub-Goal 2 Water Quality:
On p. 68 [of the 4.5.12 draft], there are three indicators related to phosphorus in Lake Champlain:
-Burlington Bay, Mallets Bay, Inland Sea annual mean TP concentration
- Main lake annual mean TP concentration
- Mean TP loading rates to Lake Champlain from Winooski, Lamoille, and LaPlatte River.
With the possible exception of the TP loading from the LaPlatte River (entirely within Chitt. Co.), I don't think these are very good indicators for Chittenden County, simply because a lot of the area draining to the lake regions and the Winooski and Lamoille Rivers are not in the county and it is impossible to sort out how much of the P is attributable in or out of the county. So even if we did a fantastic job in the county, these indicators may not change at all because of what's coming in from outside the county. Add to that the very long lag times in these indicators in response to any land-based management activities. So, I would strongly suggest that these be dropped from the list or at least heavily qualified as secondary indicators (I know they're "cheap" to get because DEC and.or the LCBP are already generating them).
On a more positive note, I would suggest adding an indicator - number of beach closures (for bacteria). This indicator would likely be geographically appropriate (Burlington beaches, for example, would be primarily influenced by very local tribs and stormwater) and short-lived enough to be pretty responsive to management improvement
- e.g., the reopening of Blanchard Beach at Oakledge Park in Burlington. Number of beach closures has been used as an indicator elsewhere in the US and the data for CC beaches should be reasonably easy to get.
Sub-Goal 2 Water Quality: On
Sub-Goal 2 Water Quality:
On p. 68 [of the 4.5.12 draft], there are three indicators related to phosphorus in Lake Champlain:
-Burlington Bay, Mallets Bay, Inland Sea annual mean TP concentration
- Main lake annual mean TP concentration
- Mean TP loading rates to Lake Champlain from Winooski, Lamoille, and LaPlatte River.
With the possible exception of the TP loading from the LaPlatte River (entirely within Chitt. Co.), I don't think these are very good indicators for Chittenden County, simply because a lot of the area draining to the lake regions and the Winooski and Lamoille Rivers are not in the county and it is impossible to sort out how much of the P is attributable in or out of the county. So even if we did a fantastic job in the county, these indicators may not change at all because of what's coming in from outside the county. Add to that the very long lag times in these indicators in response to any land-based management activities. So, I would strongly suggest that these be dropped from the list or at least heavily qualified as secondary indicators (I know they're "cheap" to get because DEC and.or the LCBP are already generating them).
On a more positive note, I would suggest adding an indicator - number of beach closures (for bacteria). This indicator would likely be geographically appropriate (Burlington beaches, for example, would be primarily influenced by very local tribs and stormwater) and short-lived enough to be pretty responsive to management improvement
- e.g., the reopening of Blanchard Beach at Oakledge Park in Burlington. Number of beach closures has been used as an indicator elsewhere in the US and the data for CC beaches should be reasonably easy to get.