Citizen Lake-Monitoring Program: 1996 Report on the Transparency of Minnesota Lakes

The Citizen Lake-Monitoring Program (CLMP) was initiated as a cost-effective mechanism for obtaining basic water quality data for the lakes of Minnesota. CLMP involves asking citizens with an interest in a lake to take weekly transparency measurements. the readings are taken through the use of Secchi Disks. This data is then placed in the EPA's STORET database. 619 lakes in fifty-seven counties were monitored. The average transparency was found to be 9.8ft. A lake in St. Louis County was found to have the deepest transparency (52ft) and a Ramsey County Lake was found to have the lowest (0.2ft). It is generally believed that Secchi disk transparencies can indicate the health and status of a lake.