Q: Why monitor lake levels?
Lake level is just one of the many data points we will be gathering about water quality and lake health. This data will be combined withi our coming study of our lake (Integrated Aquatic Vegetation Management Plan) to provide some scientific and objective insights that can be used when creating our work plan.
Q: How is the lake level going to be determined?
There is currently a water-level monitoring pole in Offut Lake by the boat launch. It was placed there by Thurston County in 2021. This picture is a sample – not the one of our lake.
Q: Who will monitor this?
A volunteer in the OLMD Steering Committees will monitor lake levels. This information will be entered into the Liquid Earth Citizen Lake Measurement Program. This website is run by researchers at North Carolina University at Chapel Hill and connects to some satellites run by NASA. Here is a LINK to the specific Offut Lake page on the Liquid Earth website.
Q: Is this water level monitoring mandated by the County or State?
A: There is no water level mandate. This is just part of our due diligence to gather as much data as possible about our lake. And the good news is that there is no cost for this. It just requires volunteer time.
Watch a VIDEO about lake level monitoring one of our LMD partners, Lake Lawrence.
Some quotes from that video:
The purpose of the program was to determine what impacts lake volumes the most: precipitation, water table height, evaporation, or some other factor.
Knowing the answer to this would help researchers better understand how the water moves in relation to the lake and the surrounding land. The second reason was to understand how the volume of water in any given lake changes over time. They figured by compiling the information obtained from the NASA satellites and the local lake level reporting the researchers could gain some important insights.
