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To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched a yearlong series of events in 2003, each month focusing on a different aspect of the Clean Water Act. July 2003 was designated as Lakes Awareness Month. In addition, the North American Lakes Management Society (NALMS) sponsors Lakes Appreciation Month each July.
Americans love to spend July, especially the Fourth, on the water,
at beaches, and on lakeshores. Boating, fishing, and swimming
are favorite recreational uses of American lakes and reservoirs.
Lakes and reservoirs also play other vital, and often hidden,
roles. They provide drinking water and irrigation water for
agricultural fields and are a source of electricity and power
generation. They also serve the important function of absorbing
rainfall and runoff from land, help to prevent floods, and provide
homes for precious wildlife.
It is clear that as we enjoy and use lakes, we have to protect
them. Because lake pollution is caused by so many different
activities, no one regulation will suffice to prevent it. Education
and outreach aimed at changing individual behavior are key components
to any successful lake protection effort.
The materials EPA has developed are presented below.
They show that the choices we make (as businesses, individuals,
lake associations, and communities) can help keep America's
waters clean. Lake associations, county and state governments,
neighborhood civic associations, commercial marinas and yacht
clubs, and campsite operators may use these materials. The materials
presented are PDF files that may be downloaded and printed to
a local printer. One of the fact sheets below can be
customized. Add your own contact information, and inexpensively
reproduce it before you post it for the public. Three of the
publications can be reproduced in large quantities at a professional
print shop. The requisite files and instructions for professional
reproduction are provided below.
EPA Partners for Lakes Awareness Month
North American Lake Management Society
The North American
Lake Management Society (NALMS)  sponsors an annual Lake Appreciation Month in July. The NALMS Web site offers many tips on how citizens can participate in lake pollution prevention, raise awareness about the value of lakes, and access educational materials on lakes and lake ecology. Site visitors can also play a pond life identification game, browse technical material from scientific journals, and subscribe to NALMS' LakeLine magazine .
The Great American Secchi Dip-In
The July Lakes Appreciation Month also overlaps with The Great American Secchi Dip-In . In this nationwide lake monitoring event, volunteers measure how clear lake waters are by using a simple device called the Secchi disk-a flat disk with alternating black and white quadrants. It is lowered into the water, and the depth at which it disappears to the naked eye is noted as a measure of the transparency of the lake water. Transparency can be affected by the color of the water, algae, or suspended sediments. Volunteers submit their Secchi Dip-In measurements to the Dip-In program at Kent State University, where the data are analyzed and trend maps are made.
EPA Technical Guidance and Reference Documents
EPA regularly produces technical guidance covering many aspects of lake management.
| Online materials |
For a guidance document on bioassessment methods for lakes,
a manual on water quality monitoring methods for volunteers,
case studies on lake restoration, and other materials, visit:
http://www.epa.gov/owow/lakes/onlndocs.html
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| Materials to order from the National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP)
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To order technical guidance manuals on water quality modeling, monitoring, fisheries management, lake restoration techniques, and statistical techniques for lake water quality data, visit: http://www.epa.gov/owow/lakes/ordrdocs.html
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