Sheechi Day?

[Blll]

I saw on the news that tomorrow is Sheechi Day on Beaver Lake. Anyone know what that is?

[Stump bumper]

That is where you lower a disk on a rope and measure how clear the water is, they usually hand them out at PC. It is never good news and with the rain it will be worse then last year no doubt. I've only lived here since 2001 and I remember catching bass at 30 feet and watching them hit the worm. But it is a scientific way of saying that the population boom was bad for the water. 

[tjm]

What is the science? It just sounds like a goofy feel good thing. Visibility has as much to do with the sky cover as it has to do with water quality. 

[mojorig]

More on secchi readings: https://www.rmbel.info/training/how-to-use-a-secchi-disk/

Here is more info about the event: https://www.bwdh2o.org/education-outreach/secchi-day/

I'm not sure how successful they will be with the recent rain.

[Stump bumper]

6 hours ago, tjm said:

What is the science? It just sounds like a goofy feel good thing. Visibility has as much to do with the sky cover as it has to do with water quality. 

It is not really, but it gets attention. Clear water does not always mean good drinking water and muddy water does not always mean bad drinking water.  I don't like to drink water with high lead or arsenic content and most filters don't remove those chemicals, but dirt is easy to remove. It just depends on what the dirt contained and if it dissolves into the water. I remember some very clear lakes in upstate NY that the state would not allow swimming or boats on for decades because of mercury levels from 19th century logging. But it does confirm the more wooded areas you cut down and the more and bigger boats that run your water turns darker.due to more run off and banks being washed out by wakes.

Wither or not we want to admit it or not the hydrocarbons our two stroke motors put into the water are in our morning coffee, but that cannot be measured by clearity.

What can be done about that? Well take a trip to the reservoirs that provide drinking water for New York City. I have fished those and they are row boats only, no electric trolling motors even and you must have your boat steamed cleaned by the state then chain it on shore when you finish for the day. I don't see any amount of protesting or experiments turning an Arkansas lake to that but there are people who wish for that type of regulation here. I used to troll at 3 miles per hour with oars, I can't do that anymore, not for very long anyway.

 

[MOPanfisher]

Sechi disk readings are just one of the multitude of measurements that can be taken.  Doesn't require much equipment or skill to use and gets the public involved in and this king about water quality, both good things.

[tjm]

40 years ago the reservoir that Providence got it's drinking water from was restricted from boats and fishing and all other access, not only that but the entire watershed feeding it was City owned and likewise restricted. was said to be the best municipal water in the country at the time. I worked a couple sewer plant jobs and the out flow  was tested to be as pure as city water. The biggest pollutants I know of are golf courses and big green lawns. Oils from your motors and oils from pavement float on water and end up in the ocean for the most part, not a good thing but as long as we want to live away from the work or work away from home it's going to happen. 

25 minutes ago, MOPanfisher said:

Sechi disk readings are just one of the multitude of measurements that can be taken.

Do they give the same results on a sunny day and a cloudy day? What about at night?

[MOPanfisher]

It is simply a reading taken a a single point in time at a specific location. 

The instrument provides the most consistent results in sunny, midday, calm water conditions off the shaded side of a boat or dock to minimize reflection off the water. Secchi depth corresponds to the depth at which approximately 10% of the surface light remains (Wetzel, 1983). 

[tjm]

Exactly. Tells nothing really except how much light is available at that time. Today's reading is not even relatable to yesterday's reading, never mind last year's reading.  It may raise peoples awareness. It may get people involved but so could a community fish fry and hootenanny.

I once lived where acid rain fell from the sky on a regular basis, and having seen a lake with vinegar levels of acidity, clarity is not a good thing. Clearest lake I have ever seen because nothing lived in it. Not much grew 5' back from the water, but by golly that water was clear. 

 

[MOPanfisher]

Super clear water is seldom if ever the most fertile.  Nobody claimed a sechi reading was particularly useful, just one of many type of readings taken.  A fish fry that brought people out to hear about how important water quality is and how to protect it would certainly not be bad thing.