Surface Water Monitoring Program

Our water monitoring program has established a baseline water quality database for the current state of the L'Anse Reservation surface waters. This database may be used as a basis to issue future National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits and used as a reference by future water quality studies to determine changes in water quality over time. Monitoring will allow for the identification and characterization of impaired or pristine waters. 

Annual monitoring also serves to track any trends or changes in water quality and the effectiveness of management practices intended to remediate impaired waters.

The KBIC implemented its water quality monitoring strategy in 2001, with a four year baseline data collection effort completed in 2004.  This was followed by our ongoing modified core monitoring program which began in 2005.  The strategy includes sampling physical, chemical and biological parameters on selected water bodies throughout the L’Anse Indian Reservation.  Benthic macroinvertebrate samples are also collected from each site annually.

Monitoring sites are located on all significant Reservation water bodies, excluding intermittent streams and isolated, small wetlands.  The sampling scheme is on a semi-rotational basis with larger stream systems and lakes having either multiple sampling points, and/or being sampled in every year of data collection.  Smaller systems and lakes are sampled at a single station, rotated every other year.