The primary purpose of this cooperative program is to help citizen volunteers monitor indicators of water quality in their lake and document changes in lake quality over time. Lake quality is influenced by many factors such as the amount of recreational use it receives, shoreline development, watershed runoff, and water quality. Lake water quality is a general term covering many aspects of lake chemistry and biology. The health of a lake is determined by its water quality. Problems most commonly cited by lake residents, such as excessive plant growth, algal blooms, and mucky bottom sediments, are caused by water quality factors that lead to increased lake fertility or productivity.
Productivity refers to the amount of plant and animal life that can be produced within the lake.
Excessive productivity can significantly shorten the life of the lake. The gradual increase of lake productivity over time is a natural process called eutrophication, or lake aging. A primary objective of most lake management plans is to slow down eutrophication by reducing the input of plant nutrients, such as phosphorus, and sediments to the lakes. Lake scientists have developed a variety of numerical indexes based on water quality data to express lake productivity on a continuous numerical scale. The CLMP was designed to provide data on these parameters.