Lamoille Watershed Water Quality Monitoring and Exchange Project

LCCD works with schools throughout the Lamoille Watershed to complete water quality projects on an annual basis. Completed in the spring, students are introduced to chemical, biologicial, and geomorphological field studies to assess the river's health. Students can also participate with LCCD partners, in a collaborative Vermont EPSCoR Stream Project being completed by schools and colleges in the watershed. Johnson State College, St. Michael’s, Sterling College and University of Vermont students collect samples on tributaries to record phosphorus, e-coli, and macroinvertebrate indicators to study healthy water parameters.

Efforts to intiate a water quality analysis of Lamoille River and its tributaries began in the Fall of 2008 with over 200 students. After getting their feet wet and sampling waterways, students studied and gathered information again in Spring 2009. These middle and high school students were introduced to the VT EPSCoR Stream Project by following similar protocols in gathering data at sample sites where JSC and Sterling college students also gathered data. In some cases, representatives from colleges were available to guide students in the data collecting. Sampling consisted of a macroinvertebrate analysis, chemistry test, and riparian buffer observation.

This Lamoille Watershed Water Quality Monitoring and Exchange Project is a community sharing space for student narratives and data. Schools participating in the project created Lamoille Watershed Resource Pages to describe their field work, follow up research, and results from their observations. Additionally, a link to the scientifically legitimate data at VT EPSCoR can also be a public posting forum for general observations of the river. Ongoing work continues at present. Please contact LCCD to find out how to be involved in river fieldwork and how to post information.

Participating Colleges
University of Vermont
Johnson State College
Sterling College
St. Michael’s College

Participating Schools
To view select Lamoille River Resource Pages, click on the appropriate link:

• Craftsbury Academy 1
• Craftsbury Academy 2
• Lamoille Union Middle School
• Lamoille Union High School
• Peoples Academy Middle School Brady Class
• Peoples Academy Middle School Emerson Class
• Peoples Academy Middle School Ludington Class

Looking for more data?
Check out data from the Vermont EPSCoR Streams Project. The VT EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) Streams Project is dedicated to collecting and sharing data from streams of the Lake Champlain basin and beyond. VT EPSCoR works with students, teachers, undergraduates and faculty from around the state in this effort. The data gathered serves the needs to a Complex Systems Modeling Group as well as many state/local agencies in finding solutions to the pollution issues in our waterways. Explore this site to learn more!