18 Dec Save Our Streams Reports on 2023 Results
When we measure the water quality of Smith Mountain Lake, we are actually evaluating water that comes into the lake not only from the Roanoke and Blackwater rivers, but also from many other tributaries. Monitoring the health of these numerous streams is critical to understanding the quality of water that ends up in our lake. SMLA collaborates with the local Virginia Save Our Streams Program (VA SOS) and the Blue Ridge Foothills and Lakes (BRFAL) Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalist Program to conduct water quality monitoring on these small streams that eventually feed into the lake. Certified volunteer monitors collect and identify fresh water aquatic macroinvertebrates that live on stream bottoms twice yearly.
A survey of the diversity and number of specimens we find is used to assign a water quality rating to the streams and to monitor that rating over time. Data collected is then entered into the VA SOS database, which is used by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality in assessing the overall quality of Virginia’s streams and rivers and in identifying specific problems that may need to be addressed.
The SMLA Save our Streams data complements the water quality measurements from our Water Quality Monitoring Program with Ferrum College – a program that has set the standard for a volunteer lake monitoring program for nearly four decades.
SMLA’s Save our Streams (SOS) program reports that 19 streams in our watershed were surveyed during 2023. Three and four-person teams of certified monitors, who base their findings on a count of macroinvertebrates, conducted a total of 38 monitoring events. The ratings assigned are based on the relative numbers of pollution-tolerant and pollution-intolerant species identified. Scores range from 0 to 12 (low to high), with a score of 7 and below considered unacceptable; 8 in the gray area; and 9 and above acceptable. This year’s average score was an 8.9, the same as in the previous year, with 12 of the streams (63%) testing as fully acceptable, while the state-wide stream average is generally around 55%.
To obtain a more comprehensive view of stream quality, three streams were added to our monitoring list in 2023. All three streams are on the Bedford side of the Lake, filling in a coverage gap near the dam.