Water Quality Results – 2012 – Lac Bernard Association

Hello everyone: This is an update for you on your Association’s water quality sampling program and the results for 2012.

You may recall that the Association is testing along one-quarter of the shoreline each year looking at e.coli levels in the area where you are swimming. The results of our sampling on July 29th and August 12th this year are attached here on four maps.

In 2011, we sampled in front of 100 properties starting at the outlet and ending in Mitchell Bay. This year, we began in Mitchell Bay and ended in Turtle Bay and, in the next two years, we hope to do the last two sections of 100 properties.

If you take the time to compare the 2012 results on the maps attached here with the July 2008 shoreline sampling (see Water Quality Results 2008), you will see that there has been an important improvement in the e.coli levels along the shoreline in this area. This year, there were a few hotspots where the first samples resulted in C (acceptable) levels according to Quebec’s standards for beaches,but when these spots were retested, the results showed either excellent or good levels for e.coli. Low levels of e.coli mean cleaner water for swimming and for the animals we share the water with. Interestingly, we did find this year that the active beaver lodge on Horseshoe Island may be an important source of e.coli especially when there is as little rain as we had this summer. Thanks to Jan and John Purcell and Sarah and Kent Humphrey who helped my husband and I with this work and John McDonald and Bruno Lobrichon for helping to get the information to you.

The third water quality sampling for 23 bays around the lake is being completed on Sunday August 26. So far the results for June and July have shown excellent levels of both e.coli and total phosphorus in all of the bays this summer. Watch for the results that will be uploaded to the web shortly.Thanks to Don Lillico for his help.

The 3 deep spots on the lake were sampled in the “ice-out” sampling in April with Laurence McClelland’s help and the results are combined with the monthly bay sampling report. The lake had higher total phosphorus levels at “ice-out” than we would want to see.

Finally, Paul Hays and Peter Muir just did the last of this year’s monthly sampling at two sites on the lake as part of the MRC H2O program that is developing an overivew of the entire region’s lakes and rivers. . The results we have seen so far show that, like last year’s results, the lake is in excellent condition.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send them to environment@lacbernard.ca and join the Association if you haven’t already!