\n\tThis is not a new issue for Lake Morey. In the 1970’s and early 1980’s cyanobacteria blooms also “severely interfered with recreational use of the lake,” prompting a\u00a0diagnostic-feasibility study\u00a0completed in 1984<\/a>. The study led to a successful alum treatment in 1986 to control internal phosphorus loading from the lake sediments. When alum (aluminum sulfate) is added to a lake, phosphate is removed in the water column through precipitation forming a floc that settles to the lake bottom. This floc layer forms a barrier to internal phosphorus loading from the sediment.<\/p>\n \n\tNearly 40 years later, a\u00a0new sediment study was completed in January 2023<\/a>\u00a0that recommended another alum treatment, which was then permitted and funded by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VTDEC) and completed in June of 2024 in collaboration with the Town of Fairlee. The alum treatment was once again successful at reducing phosphorus from internal loading and in the water column to well below the water quality standard, which resulted in very low chlorophyll-a (algae) and very high Secchi transparency (clarity). The effectiveness of the alum treatment is expected to last up to 40 years based on the previous results. \n\tContinued\u00a0lake<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0tributary<\/a>\u00a0water quality sampling under the Lay Monitoring Program has led to VT DEC funding a\u00a0Lake Watershed Action Plan\u00a0(LWAP)<\/a> that was initiated in 2022 and completed in 2024. An LWAP is an assessment and planning tool used to identify how land uses (shoreline development, road networks, agriculture, forestry, etc.)\u00a0are impacting\u00a0the lake and it\u2019s tributaries. Projects are then prioritized for addressing water quality concerns in a specific lake watershed. The White River Natural Resources Conservation District worked with Bear Creek Environmental to develop the Lake Morey Watershed Action Plan<\/a> in collaboration with project partners including the Lake Morey Protective Association, the Lake Morey Foundation, the Lake Morey Commission, and private landowners. The prioritized list of restoration and protection projects identified through the LWAP\u00a0process\u00a0can be considered for funding under the\u00a0Clean Water Initiative Program (CWIP)<\/a>\u00a0and other sources. Although the lake has seen a great improvement from the alum treatment, it\u2019s critical to minimize land use impacts around impaired water bodies and have plans to do so through these LWAPs.<\/p>\n \n\tHeather Pembrook, former Deputy Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), attended the Lake Morey Protective Association annual meeting in 2024 and wrote, \u201cThey were so appreciative of the years of monitoring, education and assistance provided\u2026They are thrilled with the in-lake results, and [Lake Champlain Sea Grant\u2019s] work reflects well upon DEC and the State.\u201d The Town of Fairlee wrote, \u201cWithin days lake residents were commenting on the effectiveness of the [alum] treatment.\u201d See 2024 volunteer phosphorus monitoring results in the 2024 Lay Monitoring graph.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nestled among hills in the town of Fairlee, Lake Morey…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1463,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1140,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819\/revisions\/1140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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![\"Graph](\"\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/half-width__wide\/public\/uploads\/LakeMorey.jpg?itok=GcaqnW5D "\\"2024")