Lake Ripples - May 2010

Effective July 1st, 2010 Vermont stores can no longer sell automatic dishwasher detergents that contain phosphorus. What does this mean for your dishes? Nothing! Phosphorus-free dishwashing detergents perform just as well as their phosphorus containing counterparts. This is great news for Vermont’s lakes and waterways! Phosphorus helps harmful algae thrive. It is easier and less expensive to reduce our use of phosphorus than it is to remove it at wastewater treatment plants. The ban is a result of a multi-year campaign LCC began in 2003 to get phosphates out of automatic dishwasher detergents. Similar legislation is pending in New York State.

This month LCC welcomes Ryan Garber as an Environmental Service Corps student intern for the summer. Ryan is a Master’s candidate at McGill University in Montreal. He is working on a project to identify ways municipalities might adapt to anticipated warmer temperatures, and greater frequency and intensity of storm events resulting from climate change.  While state and federal agencies have the capacity to develop adaptation plans, municipalities have fewer resources. Thus, Ryan’s work will fill a gap in our efforts to adapt to a changing climate. We’re delighted to have him onboard!

Reserve your copy by joining LCC or renewing your membership! 

The 2010 edition of the Lake Champlain Paddlers' Trail Guidebook and Stewardship Manual will be out in June. It’s filled with important information for great adventures on the water including site descriptions and chartlets for 39 Trail locations (including several new sites!), launch site listings, natural history articles, safety and stewardship tips, equipment check lists and more! - And it's available to all members who renew annually for $40 or more. Click here to make an online donation to ensure you have the guidebook in hand at the beginning of the paddling season.

TDI – Transmission Developers Inc. – has filed initial documents for their proposal for an underwater buried electric cable with the New York State Public Services Commission. The proposed cable would run the length of Lake Champlain and bring electricity from Canada to New York City and vicinity. Where possible, the proposed route would lie in about 100 feet of water and the cable would be buried about four feet under the lake bed.  The initial filing includes maps of the proposed route and overviews of the project. Additional studies of the lake bottom in the proposed project area are scheduled to be added later this summer. TDI also began a series of public meetings on the project including one held in Plattsburgh on April 13^th which LCC attended. Formal public hearings will be held in the summer. LCC will be looking at any impacts of sediment suspension resulting from the work, impacts of electromagnetic fields the buried cables might emit, and impacts on the benthic community.

Work to replace the Champlain Bridge between Crown Point, NY and Addison, VT is progressing on schedule according to presentations at a meeting in Addison on May 11th. Sonar will be used to ensure the deepwater removal of the old bridge is complete. A few of the old piers remain and will be kept in place during construction to serve as work platforms. Negotiations with a firm to build the bridge are expected to be complete by the end of May. Permits for the new project from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard have been issued. Construction will begin this field season and is expected to be completed by October of 2011. For further details on the bridge reconstruction visit: https://www.nysdot.gov/lakechamplainbridge.

In late April and early May the temperature of the lake at the King St. ferry dock in Burlington rose above 40 degrees for the first time this year. This signals the beginning of lake stratification. Water 39 degrees and colder is more dense than water 40 degrees and warmer. The warmer water sits atop the colder water unless wind and waves are strong enough to mix them. Through the summer the warm water layer grows thicker and mixing becomes less and less likely.   

The summer temperature of the cool lower layer is dependent upon the number of spring storms. If there were numerous spring storms, lots of mixing occurred and the lower layer is warmer. Few spring storms mean less mixing and a cooler layer. A 1979 study stated stratification in the Main Lake typically began in early June. However, over the last nine years stratification has begun as early as April 21^st and only as late as May 24^th.