MOORHEAD — Don't look out your window, but spring is coming, and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is recruiting volunteers to help measure water clarity around the state.
The MPCA relies on Minnesota residents to help monitor the state's more than 12,000 lakes and 92,000 miles of streams. Some of the high priority sites are in the Moorhead area, according to a press release from the MPCA.
Volunteers perform a simple water clarity test in a body of water twice a month during the summer, and monitors must boat or paddle to a designated spot in a lake to perform the check. Stream monitors record data from the bank or a bridge over a stream.
All equipment is provided by the MPCA, and no previous experience is required, according to the MPCA's press release.
"In some cases, the information gathered by volunteers is the only monitoring done on a particular lake or stream," said Lauren Lewandowski, communications specialist with the MPCA.
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The MPCA will then use the data to help determine whether lakes and streams are meeting water quality standards designed to protect aquatic life and recreational activities like fishing and swimming.
