Protecting the resource: Group concerned about health of Lake Monroe

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More than half the area that feeds water into Lake Monroe is in Brown County.

If you live in Washington, Hamblen or Van Buren Townships, chances are that whatever you put in your yard or on your land — fertilizers, herbicides, trash, waste from animals or humans — is going to eventually make it into this lake.

“Everything happening in the watershed gets concentrated as it moves down toward the lake,” explained Sherry Mitchell-Bruker, a water flow scientist and founding member and president of Friends of Lake Monroe.

Even though the watershed — the area capturing the water — spans 423 square miles, the ratio of the watershed to the lake area is 25 to 1, meaning that everything gets concentrated in the lake, she explained.

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“This is the concern we have about non-point sources: You can do a little bit of something in the watershed and it all adds up,” she said.

Mitchell-Bruker, the Friends of Lake Monroe, and the Leagues of Women Voters from Brown County and Monroe County/Bloomington hosted a public forum on Jan. 14 at the Brown County Public Library. About 70 people attended.

The point was to share information about the watershed and the problems that Friends of Lake Monroe are seeing in the lake, and to hear from forum participants about what their concerns were.

Friends of Lake Monroe has received a federal grant to create a management plan for the watershed aimed at reducing non-point pollution in the lake, or pollution that comes from many sources over a wide area.

As part of the project, faculty and students from the Indiana University O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs will work with volunteers to collect water samples across the watershed. The results from this sampling, along with previous water quality data, will be used to identify areas of concern, the group reported in a press release.

Areas of concern

Lake Monroe, which spans southeastern Monroe and southwestern Brown counties, serves not only as a method of flood control and as a popular recreational spot, but also as a water supply for more than 100,000 people, mostly in Bloomington but a small portion in Brown County.

It’s the largest manmade body of water in Indiana, with parts of five counties included in its watershed: Brown (56.1 percent), Monroe (21 percent), Jackson (20.7 percent), Bartholomew (2.2 percent) and Lawrence (0.3 percent).

“One of the problems we have is blue-green algae in the lake,” Mitchell-Bruker told the group at the library. “Every year we’ve had recreational advisories from August to September.”

That algae is fed from runoff from the watershed.

The algae can cause rashes, skin and eye irritation, tingling in fingers, and toes and stomach problems, so anyone swimming, wading or skiing in it is advised to shower afterward. If pets or children happen to drink untreated lake water, it could make them sick.

Mitchell-Bruker described the algae as “at a very low level,” and the friends group wants to do something to “make it better, or not make it worse.” If it gets worse, it could release toxins, she said.

When the lake water is treated to become drinking water, the chlorine interacts with the algae and other particles from sediment, and creates a disinfectant byproduct, Mitchell-Bruker said. The level of byproduct has improved since a new director of utilities took over, she added. However, treating all of those things in the water supply comes at a cost, and “we want to avoid getting into a situation where we have big problems,” she said.

Other concerns the friends group has about the lake include runoff from land-clearing operations; erosion leading to “sedimentation,” or a gradual filling-in of the lake; mercury appearing in fish; invasive species like Asian carp and non-native plants; E. coli flowing from “impaired streams” — several of which are in Brown County — into the lake; and general trash washing into the water or along the shoreline.

Participants at the Brown County forum broke into groups to come up with their main concerns about the lake. The top ones mentioned were drinking water quality; “unregulated forest management,” logging and its effects on the lake; human and animal pathogens in the water; trash; sedimentation; agricultural runoff; the use of pesticides and herbicides; invasive species; drinking water treatment costs; the effect of motorized watercraft on the health of the lake; and maintaining the lake’s recreational value.

There appears to be a poor understanding among the public about how lakes function, said Bill Jones, who created the only previous study on the lake, in 1997. He said he doesn’t believe landowners and visitors harm the lake on purpose; they just don’t understand the consequences of their actions downstream or elsewhere in the watershed.

It’s also possible that people don’t know what a watershed is, another participant said.

Another hampering factor is that no one entity is really in charge of the lake, he added. Since five counties’ land feeds water into it, anyone seeking to make changes to the watershed will be dealing with five different boards of county commissioners, plus other entities, Jones said.

What’s next

The group will be looking for volunteers to help with various aspects of the watershed study, such as water sample collection. “Sampling blitzes” of more than 100 sites will occur this spring and fall.

The new watershed coordinator, environmental engineer Maggie Sullivan, will be reaching out to area schools to help get them involved as well, like having AP science students collect water samples.

Even something as simple as picking up trash in the watershed can help, Mitchell-Bruker said.

A lake plan steering committee will be formed, which should include some Brown County residents, “people who can help us move through the process and come out with a plan that works for everyone,” she said.

Anyone who wants to stay in the loop can keep up with Friends of Lake Monroe on its website or Facebook page.

A final report on the project will be due in about two years, Mitchell-Bruker said. It’ll take into account all the concerns and visions for the lake raised at these listening sessions, and determine which of those will be something that a group could accomplish and how those efforts could be funded.

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