Description
About the Secchi Dip-In
The Secchi Dip-In began in 1994 by Drs. Robert Carlson, Dave Waller, and Jay Lee from Kent State University (pictured above) as a pilot study. Since then, it has expanded to include volunteers from across the United States.
Its purpose? The Dip-In is a powerful demonstration of the potential of volunteer monitors and citizen scientists to gather environmentally important information on our lakes, rivers, and estuaries. The concept of the Dip-In is simple: individuals in volunteer monitoring programs take a transparency measurement on one day during the month of July. Individuals may be monitoring lakes, reservoirs, estuaries, rivers, or streams. These transparency values are used to assess the transparency of volunteer-monitored lakes in the United States and Canada.
When the first Secchi Dip-In was proposed in 1994, it was hoped that the project would make it past one or two years. Thanks to the support of volunteer programs and volunteers, the North American Lake Management Society, and the Environmental Protection Agency, the Dip-In database has grown to more than 41,000 records on more than 7,000 separate waterbodies, not including different sites, such as along rivers and estuaries.
In 2015, after leading the Secchi Dip-In for 20 years, Dr. Carlson and NALMS entered a long-term agreement transferring the operations of the Dip-In to NALMS.
We need your help to continue this important work … consider a donation today!
If you would prefer to donate by check, please send to: PO Box 7276, Boulder, CO 80306. Payable to “NALMS.” Please also reference “Secchi Dip-In” on the memo line, so we can allocate the funds accordingly. Thank you!