NH Department of Environmental Studies (NHDES): Watershed Management Bureau Volunteer Lakes Assessment Program Lake Sunapee, 1986-2012

Data on Lake Sunapee were compiled by Kathleen Weathers’ Lab, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Data were collected by Lake Sunapee Protective Association (LSPA) and analyzed by NH Department of Environmental Services (NHDES). LSPA has been concerned with water quality since its founding in 1898, when the issues were sawdust and trash in the lake and the level of the lake water. In the 1950’s LSPA collected water samples and tested for E.coli in order to have Lake Sunapee meet the standards to be named a class A (drinking water quality) lake in New Hampshire. Starting in the 1980’s, LSPA volunteer water quality monitors have been regularly sampling Lake Sunapee’s water in cove and deep sites in Lake Sunapee, and more recently in its tributary streams. The samples are analyzed in LSPA’s Water Quality Laboratory at Colby-Sawyer College; NH Department of Environmental Services provides an annual water quality report based on its analysis of the data as part of the VLAP (Volunteer Lake Assessment) Program. The LSPA lab at Colby-Sawyer College, run by Bonnie Lewis under strict quality standards as a sister lab to the state lab at NH Department of Environmental Services, also processes water samples for about twenty five area lakes.