News & Events

Simonton Lake has been chosen to participate in a state-wide program sponsored by
the Indiana DNR, IDEM and IU Bloomington called the Clean Water Initiative. So far
only 100 of Indiana’s lakes have been approved.

Amy Matherly applied for the program when she was at the Indiana Lakes Management
Society Seminar in April 2022. Our application was approved in May.

What is the Clean Water Initiative?

The question asked by many lake residents is: How clean is our water? Unless we hire
a company to test, we have no scientific data to give us that answer. But, by doing
bi-weekly testing we will have that answer. We also can compare our data to other lakes
our size and find out what other lakes are doing to keep their water clean.

Who will do the testing?

Right now, we have one volunteer, Lesa Hershberger, lake resident, who is interested in
volunteering to do the water testing every other week.  What this involves is going out
on the lake during the week when the lake is not busy and using equipment provided by
the DNR. The tests are simple, and the results are uploaded to the Clean Water
website.

The first year we will only be testing for water clarity and transparency.  This is simply a
test where a disk on a cable which is marked for depth is lowered into the water. Clarity
is determined when Lesa can no longer see the disk. Easy and quick!

Our data will be uploaded to the Clean Water Initiative website.  Indiana University
Bloomington O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs will do all the
assembling of data.

Second Phase of Testing

After two years we will be allowed to do more, and the testing will require that we get a
lake level monitor re-installed near the boat landing.
When we get to that phase, we will be able to test for:

• temperature
• dissolved oxygen
• phosphorus, nitrogen, and chlorophyll
• invasive species 
• Algal blooms

All these issues affect the quality of water in our lake.  If we find that any of these are a
problem and we can back our claim with the data, we can then take action to protect our
lake and apply for the appropriate grants.

If you would like to volunteer for this program, contact ramatherly@gmail.com