ELPA and The LaRosa Partnership Program
It’s called The LaRosa Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Analytical Services Partnership, or more commonly known as the LaRosa Partnership Program.
Since 2003, this program has helped watershed organizations and monitoring groups across Vermont implement new and/or ongoing monitoring projects for surface waters in need of water quality assessment by helping to alleviate the financial burden of laboratory analysis costs.
This testing allows community members to engage with their local streams and rivers firsthand, learn about water quality issues, and use water testing to identify where impacts are present. Due to Echo Lake’s rising phosphorus levels, it clearly was advantageous for ELPA to apply for one of these grants.
In 2021, the Echo Lake Protective Association applied for and was awarded a LaRosa grant to test four streams flowing into Echo Lake. These streams included Bennett Brook, Dickie Brook, Cold Spring Brook, and the Inlet. There were 10 samples taken at each site over the period from June to August 2021. Two of these samples included high flow events (periods of heavy rain).
Echo Lake’s tributaries were tested for Chloride and Phosphorus. Chloride comes from de-icing road salt, water softening, dust suppressant, fertilizer, and manure that gets into lakes and streams through groundwater. While Phosphorus is an essential element for plant life, too much of it in a waterbody can speed up eutrophication (a reduction in dissolved oxygen in water bodies caused by an increase of mineral and organic nutrients) of a lake. High levels of phosphorus can also lead to algae blooms that produce algal toxins which can be harmful to human and animal health. Phosphorus enters a lake through non-point sources of pollution such as road, lawn fertilizer, agricultural, and stormwater runoff, along with poorly operating septic systems.
Articles on the testing process and observational results are in the 2021 spring and fall newsletters, which can be accessed on this website under “About ELPA” in the menu.
A formal review of the results will be released over the winter and will be added once received.