The lake monitors for this year as for the past several years were Chuck Hodsdon and Dave Lafond, with occasional help from our wives. We also made one trip as we do every year with a team from UNH as they make some additional measurements with much more sophisticated equipment than ours. We also made one trip with some youngsters so that they could see what we were doing to test the water quality in the lake. We found that the youngsters could see our Secchi Disk somewhat deeper in the lake than we could and our wives disagreed with us on the colors of the alkalinity indicator. (Alkalinity is based on a vague blue to gray to pink color change as acid is added to the water.) Have no fear. When Dave and I compare our data with the professionals from UNH we are usually right on.

Excerpted from "Lake Tides, a Univ. of Wisconsin publication

"It was a black and sultry night. Not a breath of air was stirring. The lakes surface was as flat as glass. The first starburst lit up the sky in a wild and sizzling display of crimson and white. The water mirrored an exact duplicate, doubling the visual thrill… The Independence Day celebration had begun."

This summer we managed to monitor 4 sites on a consistent basis for the whole summer beginning in June and continuing until October. We continue to send our data and samples for study to the Lakes Lay Monitoring Program at UNH. In addition we will be sending our data to the Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program operated by the State of Maine. Chuck Hodsdon was recertified at a workshop in early May by the VLMP in Maine. In addition we had a team from the Freshwater Biology Group from UNH visiting Great East Lake this summer as we have done for many years to collect more extensive data on the condition of the lake.