{"id":17190,"date":"2023-07-05T15:39:24","date_gmt":"2023-07-05T19:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/?p=17190"},"modified":"2023-07-10T16:30:41","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T20:30:41","slug":"troubled-waters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/troubled-waters\/","title":{"rendered":"Troubled Waters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Superstorm Sandy’s devastation of lake watersheds made clear the need for a more concerted approach toward lake monitoring and restoration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why in 2017, the University launched the Coastal Lakes Observing Network (CLONet), a project through which staff and students from the School of Science and Urban Coast Institute partner with municipalities and community groups to organize and equip community scientists to assist in lake monitoring efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funded by two $150,000 grants from the Jules L. Plangere Jr. Family Foundation, this first-of-its-kind study combines data collected by Monmouth researchers with data collected by community scientists to determine the health of 11 coastal lakes in Monmouth County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything in ecology is so variable, so the more data you have, the better you can home in on an average condition,\u201d says Jason Adolf, Ph.D., an endowed professor of marine science and lead on the project. \u201cThat\u2019s why the community scientist aspect was so beneficial: It not only gave people a chance to directly engage in the stewardship of the lakes they live by, it also allowed for continuous monitoring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project\u2019s first phase, which primarily focused on data collection, showed that coastal lakes were less healthy than the state\u2019s inland lakes. It also revealed that, despite the lakes being within a 15-mile radius of one another, their water quality and health varied widely, with some lakes being reliably more polluted and more likely to develop harmful algal blooms (HABs) than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project recently entered its second phase, and the data collected is informing actions to promote the restoration of health to the lakes and surrounding watersheds. Water sampling will continue to measure the success of the restoration efforts now underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe water quality of the lake doesn\u2019t necessarily reflect what\u2019s happening in the lake but [rather] what\u2019s happening in the watershed,\u201d says Adolf. \u201cIt\u2019ll be really cool to see in the community data the impact of some of the million-dollar watershed restoration efforts that are planned and whether they worked or not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

Human causes of poor water quality<\/h3>\n\n\n

Development<\/strong> \u2014 Residential, commercial, and industrial \u2014 reduces the availability of natural buffers that impede runoff and leads to soil erosion during rain events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excess Nutrients<\/strong> \u2014 Rain events push excess nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen (from sewer leakage and fertilizer and stormwater runoff) into lake watersheds, feeding algae<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warming Temperatures \u2014 Toxic blue-green algae absorb sunlight and proliferate faster in warm, nutrient-rich waters, causing lake water to stagnate and become noxious<\/p>\n\n\n

Colorful Culprits <\/h3>\n\n
\n
\"An<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

HABs are a naturally occurring event, but due in part to human-caused factors, they can quickly proliferate and turn toxic, disrupting ecosystems and leading to a multiple-species die-off. These blooms have a negative impact on recreation and tourism industries, threaten human health, and can kill small animals, including pets. Cyanobacteria are a photosynthetic bacteria responsible for most HAB events.<\/p>\n\n\n

Concerned Collaborators <\/h3>\n\n\n

A group of 60 community scientists collected more than 1,500 water samples during the last four years. The samples were tested for temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, clarity, and pH. All data is available via the CLONet Data Explorer<\/a>, an interactive and downloadable tool.<\/p>\n\n\n

Steps to reduce poor water quality<\/h3>\n\n\n

Watershed improvements<\/strong> \u2014 Small efforts such as having a rain garden and not paving a majority of your lot help reduce stormwater runoff<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reduce waste<\/strong> \u2014 Properly managing trash and leaf litter helps, since they can add excess nutrients to water bodies if they enter sewage systems<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support local groups<\/strong> \u2014 Joining advocacy groups focused on lake management helps to directly support restoration efforts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monmouth researchers and local citizens have teamed up to restore the region\u2019s coastal lakes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":17191,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"image_focus":"{\"x\":60,\"y\":60}","hide_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-currents"],"thumbnail":"\"\"","catString":"Currents","issue":"Spring\/Summer 2023","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17190"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17218,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17190\/revisions\/17218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}