Past and Present Volunteering Efforts
BICA through the efforts of numerous volunteers has been collecting water samples for testing and analysis in the Bay of Islands area and beyond since the early 1990’s. Gary Clackett started this program, Zachary Shewchuck took on the responsibilities after Gary, and Linda Bartlett has continued from 2002 until the present time. This collection and testing is for clarity (using a Secchi disk) and total Phosphorus (using a water sample and lab analysis) and has been supported by the Lake Partner Program (LPP) that relies on funding from the Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks (MECP). In 2003 Linda Bartlett and Linda Montgomery started additional sampling to track coliform and E.Coli at 12 different sites due to concerns about the fish farm next to Eastern Island and discharge from Whitefish River. These samples were collected twice a month from May to October and eventually 15 sites were monitored. After 17 years, the sampling program for coliform and E.Coli was taken over by Rick Fournier and John Moskal for an additional 2 years before it was discontinued. This effort was supported financially by NEMI and BICA. Presently three sites are sampled – Jumbo Bay, the channel between Montgomery and Cote Islands, and the mouth of the Whitefish River. Testing for clarity is carried out twice per month from May to October, and a sample is taken in May for total Phosphorus testing.
Water Quality Data
The MECP maintains an interactive map showing the sampling sites within Ontario lakes and the data that is associated with those sites. In our Bay of Islands area 7 sites are identified with a descriptive name, station and ID numbers as well as geographic coordinates. Some clarity and total Phosphorus historical data is available for 4 of the sites up to the year 2020. The remaining 3 sites that are currently being tested and sampled by BICA’s LPP volunteer, Linda Bartlett, have more current data uploaded to the Ministry’s interactive map, although the Ministry has been slow to upload this data so it may be 1-2 years out of date.
The sampling sites that are not presently being sampled but can be found on the interactive map include:
The current sampling sites include:
5. North Channel (huron) STN 6981 Site ID 1 (Whitefish River)
6. North Channel (huron) STN 6981 Site ID 3 (Jumbo Bay)
7. North Channel (huron) STN 6981 Site ID 2 (Montgomery Channel)
LPP Interactive Map Data: https://www.ontario.ca/page/map-lake-partner
BICA Data and Graphs: Water Quality Archive
Bay Of Islands Community Association