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that, VLAWMO would need to purchase a more advanced (and more expensive) piece of equipment to gather this <br />data. The equipment recommended by the Ramsey County Lab is approximately $3,000 - $4,000 but has the <br />advantages of collecting more data, an internal memory to store the data and the capability of loading the data directly <br />to a computer and generating graphs and charts immediately rather than doing data entry and chart/graph creation <br />through Excel. <br />Additionally, more effort needs to be made to collect samples during storm events from inlets and outlets at water <br />bodies to monitor what is flowing in and out of the lakes. Data was collected twice at three culverts coming into <br />Birch Lake. VLAWMO should continue to collect that data and expand it to include more lakes within the watershed. <br />VLAWMO should also collect snowmelt runoff samples at all lakes to measure Chloride levels running into the lakes. <br />This would mean a larger citizens group to help us with sample collection. <br />VLAWMO may want to consider adding Nitrogen (N) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) to its lake testing parameters <br />as these are common in other lake monitor programs. Testing for fecal coliform could also be done on a more regular <br />basis. A fecal coliform test was done for one sample on Goose Lake West this summer. VLAWMO should conduct <br />sediment sampling on its lakes as this data provides good information about nutrient loading within the lake rather <br />than through runoff. Sediment sampling does not need to be done on an annual basis; every ten years may be <br />sufficient. Finally, VLAWMO may want to include Fish Lake, Black Lake, Deep Lake, and water bodies that have <br />been created to treat runoff in the sampling program. Sampling at these sites could be rotated on an annual basis so <br />as not to overwhelm the budget. <br />Increased sampling and additional testing would mean a higher lab expense but the information would be quite <br />valuable and will aid in future TMDL studies as more VLAWMO lakes are designated as impaired. <br />