Messer Pond Ecology

Messer Pond Water Quality Monitoring

Beautiful view of northeast shore of Messer Pond, Autumn 2006

Current Water Quality Monitoring Volunteers

John Harris - Lead Water Quality Monitor

John Doyle, Bruce Stetson - Assistant Water Quality Monitors

What is VLAP and why is it important?

The New Hampshire Volunteer Lake Assessment Program (NHVLAP), initiated in 1985, serves a dual purpose by establishing a regular volunteer-driven water sampling program to assist DES (Department of Environmental Services) in evaluating water quality throughout the state, and the program empowers volunteer monitors and lake residents with information about the health of their waterbody.

Regular gathering of water quality data from the lake and the streams that enter it builds a strong set of baseline data. Such monitoring results in early detection of water quality changes, allowing DES to trace potential problems to their source. If the data gathered in VLAP reveals that there is a water quality problem in a particular waterbody, the data may be used to justify the need for the implementation of a more intensive watershed study through the N.H. Clean Lakes Program, the Federal Clean Lakes Program, or the Non-Point Source Local Watershed Initiative Grants Program.

The volunteer monitors of VLAP are invaluable to the state of New Hampshire for collecting data that are used to determine long-term trends and for educating their neighbors on keeping the waters clean. They have been, and will continue to be, a key element in protecting the integrity of New Hampshire's lakes. - Excerpt from NHDES, Watershed Management Bureau, VLAP

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