The Lake Champlain Basin Program facilitated a recent meeting between Vermont and Quebec stakeholders to review efforts to improve the water quality of a bay shared by the state and province.
The Missisquoi Bay is one of the largest in Lake Champlain. Located in the northern portion of the lake, it extends from the Richelieu River in Quebec across the border into Lake Champlain in Vermont. It has exceeded phosphorus concentration standards set by both the U.S. and Canada for several decades and the excessive loads are believed to be contributing to blue green algae blooms.
Vermont and Quebec have been working jointly to implement phosphorus reduction plans.
Vermont Department of Environmental Conversation Clean Water Initiative Program Tracking and Accounting Coordinator Claire Madden provided an overview of the state’s history to control phosphorus and what is currently occurring in the bay.
“The state passed The Clean Water Service Delivery Act, or Act 76 of 2019, and this act establishes a long-term source of clean water funding. The act also requires the establishment of Clean Water Service Providers for watersheds draining into Lake Champlain and Lake Memphremagog. The Clean Water Service Providers are responsible for administering funding and working with their region’s water quality councils to identify, develop and implement projects to meet specific phosphorus reduction targets.”
Madden says the state has invested about $28 million for projects in the Missisquoi Basin since 2016 with a large portion going to the agricultural sector to prevent phosphorus runoff
“The Missisquoi Basin has the largest relative reduction in estimated phosphorus to date. However, Missisquoi Bay also has the largest phosphorus reduction target to meet. We estimate that we are about 14 percent towards reaching the target in Missisquoi Bay. And the TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) is a 20-year implementation period so we’re reporting on year seven of twenty. In state fiscal year 2022 we estimated that phosphorus reduction in the Missisquoi Basin totaled about 12.3 metric tons and that is equivalent to about 27,000 pounds of phosphorus reduced. The target for the Missisquoi Basin is just under 200,000 pounds. So you can see we have some work left to do.”
Quebec Ministry of the Environment Directorate General for Analysis and Expertise of the Center and South Nathalie Provost provided an update on phosphorus monitoring data and Quebec’s strategy for reducing phosphorus in Missisquoi Bay.
“We are taking samples in eleven stations and tributaries of the Missisquoi Bay. We do a monthly sampling and analysis. The analysis is covering several bacteriological and physical chemical parameters. With it we’re able to track the information and what we see for now is that the trend is stable and there’s no significant change in what we are seeing right now.”
The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation has published a Tactical Plan for the Missisquoi Bay.
