Stream Gage Funding Secured – For Now
Stream gages are critical for monitoring water quality, forecasting floods, and assessing the effectiveness of pollution control programs.
Funding appears to have been secured for the remaining Lake Champlain Basin stream gages that were threatened with closure. Thanks to all of you who made calls or wrote letters emphasizing the importance of our stream gages and the need for on-going, stable funding!
A variety of partners have stepped forward to fill the gap in the United States Geological Survey (USGS) budget. Vermont and New York Departments of Environmental Conservation have taken responsibility for most of the gages while the City of Montpelier will fund two gages on the Winooski River and the Champlain Water District will tentatively fund the LaPlatte River gage. On September 18 the Lake Champlain Basin Program Steering Committee authorized funding for one year for the five gages remaining on the chopping block, with a caveat that a long-term plan for funding be put together by partners in the near future. Stream gages are critical for flood-forecasting, pollution monitoring, and environmental evaluation. By chairing the Basin Program’s Technical Advisory Committee, LCC Staff Scientist Mike Winslow sits on the Steering Committee and was able to have a direct say in the resolution of the funding dilemma.
