About Our Program

Water Quality

  Did you Know?

Did you know that all of the earth’s fresh water represents less than 1/10 of a percent (0.1%) of our entire planets water source? We must protect this precious and vulnerable resource!

  • 94% fills our oceans
  • 2% remains trapped in glaciers and snow caps
  • 4% lies under ground
  • Only .1% of all the Earth's water is fresh water

  Our Program

Mass WWP is a volunteer water quality-monitoring organization based at U Mass, Amherst. Their mission is to train and support volunteers to perform water quality sampling and analysis.  Our sampling program began in 1994 and is still going strong! Our volunteers sample every month between April and October for clarity, pH, alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, phosphorus, and chlorophyll. It is important take the samples at the same location to ensure data quality and consistency.  The data provides important information about the condition of our lake. Over time we will be able to look for trends to determine whether the water quality is changing.Check out the sampling locations.

  Interpreting Water Quality Data

Our data has been used to help us with our Lake Management Plan. Consultants such as Gerry Smith from Aquatic Control Technology, Inc., Fugro East, Inc. (now AECOM), and Beta Engineering, Inc., have used the data, and have provided us with valuable information and interpretation to help us determine what course of action to take to protect water quality. This page was developed to inform and educate Lake Singletary Watershed Association members about the health of our lake. References used include "A Primer on Limnology", by Bruce Monson, "Understanding Lake Data", by Byron Shaw, et al., and "The Lake Book", by Libby Moore.

More on Water Quality...

Graphs and Charts

Historical Trends

Historical Data