Storm Drain Detectives to test Lodi’s water

On Friday afternoon, eager Storm Drain Detectives — accompanied by Lodi Watershed Program Coordinator Kathy Grant — will board a boat and set out to test the clarity of the water at Lodi Lake and the Mokelumne River.

For 17 years in a row, Grant and students in the Storm Drain Detectives program have lowered a Secchi disk into the water with a rope to test how clear or murky three sites along the river are.

The Secchi disk is lowered into the water until it disappears, and the depth at which the disk disappears is a measure of the transparency of the water.

Grant said this year may be a little more interesting than usual, because of runoff from the snowpack.

“I’m kind of curious to see what going to happen. We still have some pretty turbid waters coming down the watershed,” she said. “It’s just a snapshot — a chance to look at our water quality.”

July is Lake Appreciation Month, Grant said, and testing the clarity of the water is a way to show the differences between the water quality at the different lakes and get people to pay attention to their local bodies of water.

Once the data is collected, it will be added to the 2017 Annual Secchi Dip-In, where it can be compared to data from previous years, as well as bodies of water from other parts of the country.

Murky water can come from use that stirs up a lake bed, agricultural runoff or other sources of pollution, or any number of human activities.

“It’s a way to teach people that whatever is running off the street is going into the lake or the river, and that may be one of the reasons the water is not so clear,” Grant said.

Measuring the clarity of the water helps the public realize that the clearness and clarity of the water has a lot to do with what they do around the lake or the river, Grant said.

“It’s a good way to measure our own stewardship, because if you look at the numbers, what’s interesting about them is usually the river is more clear than the lake because there is more (human) activity in the lake,” she said. “The more you use a a water body, the more turbid it becomes, the darker it becomes. Whereas the less you stir up a water body, the clearer its going to be.”

Anyone interested in participating in the testing can call Grant at 209-327-2063 or email kgrant@lodi.gov. Up to 10 additional people can join the Storm Drain Detectives on the boat, she said.