Water Clarity Measurments

 Community-based monitoring of Maine’s lakes by trained and certified volunteers is a vital part of understanding water quality trends and ensuring continued stewardship of Hogan and Whitney ponds for future generations. Monitoring is carried out annually in order to better understand and assess the changes in water quality over time. Statewide, Lake Stewards of Maine has trained, certified, and coordinated data from more than 500 volunteers who collect objective and repeatable scientific data on water quality parameters. Volunteers from Hogan and Whitney are part of that team. Our monitoring activities focus primarily on Secchi disc transparency readings, but also include capturing algae bloom samples for further testing in the late summer. Typically, our HWPA volunteer conducts twice monthly monitoring from May through September which are all recorded in a state database. These samples have been collected for nearly half a century on Whitney Pond and over 25 years on Hogan Pond. We are currently seeking a new volunteer from Hogan Pond to receive free training through Lake Stewards of Maine to become a certified volunteer water quality monitor in order to collect more regular samples from the pond. Historically, readings on Whitney average 5.1 meters (16.74 feet) while Hogan averages 4.1 meters (13.45 feet). The statewide average for Maine lakes is 6.8 meters.