On Monday, February 23rd, the Addison County River Watch Collaborative and the Lewis Creek Association will team up with the Starksboro Conservation Commission to host a public conversation on water quality in the Lewis Creek watershed. The Water Quality Chat is funded by the Lake Champlain Basin Program and will begin at 7:00 pm. in the Public Library at the Starksboro Town Hall. Parking is available in the town office lot at 2849 VT. Rt.116 and across Rt. 116 at the FB church.
Matt Witten, coordinator of the citizen water-monitoring group and co-chair of the Starksboro Conservation Commission said “River Watch will talk about patterns discerned in the data they have been collecting since 1992 and especially 2012-2014. “We would also like to hear residents’ and landowners’ observations and questions about water-related matters ranging from good swimming holes to Lewis Creek erosion hot-spots”.
Witten notes that participants will probably have questions about high E.coli readings, as well as some other instances where pollutants exceeded Vermont water quality standards. “Some popular swimming sites had one or more detections of E. coli above the standard in the 2014 summer monitoring, including Tyler Bridge Road on Lewis Creek, Bartlett’s Falls on the New Haven River, and the Middlebury River Gorge” .
Louis Dupont, River Watch board member and Lewis Creek Association water testing coordinator said “all members of the public are welcome and encouraged to participate in Starksboro’s Water Quality Chat .” Matt Witten said “It is very important for River Watch and the Lewis Creek Association to share information with residents who live in and value the Lewis Creek watershed, and to hear where they think that we – as a society – need to focus water clean-up efforts.”
Through administration, grant writing, and technical assistance The Addison County Regional Planning Commissions supports both the Addison County River Watch Collaborative http://acrpc.org/programs-services/natural-resources/acrwcold/lewis-creek/ and the Lewis Creek Association http://www.lewiscreek.org/
Water Quality Chat, Monday, February 23rd at 7:00 p.m. in the Starksboro public library, at 2827 VT. Rt. 116, Starksboro, VT 05487.
For more information, contact the Starksboro Conservation Commission co-chairs: Matt Witten, 434-3236; mwitten@gmavt.net or Jan McCleery, 453.3755; mccleery@norwich.edu.
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