This organization promotes the protection and wise use of Michigan's water resources. An advanced Self-Help program was initiated in 1993 which included a monitoring component for the plant nutrient phosphorus. Citizen volunteers are responsible for Collecting water samples from their lakes during the spring season and the DEQ's Environmental Laboratory provides the analytical support for the chemical analyses. In 1997, the program was expanded to included Summer Phosphorus, and in 1998 a sampling program to measurer Chlorophyll-a was begun. Dissolved Oxygen was introduced in 2000 as a pilot program .
Goals Provide baseline information and document trends in water quality for individual lakes.
Educate lake residents, users, and interested citizens in the collection of water quality data, lake ecology, and lake management practices. Build a constituency of citizens to practice sound lake management at the local level and to build public support for lake quality protection. The expansion involves the addition of new pilot programs. The pilot programs are open to all public and limited access lakes in Michigan. The primary parameters are Secchi disk transparency, total phosphorus, and chlorophyll a.