Muskoka Drinking Water

Phosphorus Testing

/ Brandy Lake Muskoka / Leave a comment
Phosphorus Testing…..So… I do the monthly testing for Lake Partners ( I did the full testing for years ..but quit recently)
It was (covid) safe for me to send in samples…but as you can read below in a recent communication with me…they have asked us to stop.
As far as Secchi Depth I’ll stop this month…Basic info…it started off 1.1 m but has been floating around 1.4 meters for most of the season. Average for us is about 1.2 over the decades
The silt does not seem to hamper clearity.
EMAIL BELOW

Hello,

The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks thanks you for your support of the Lake Partner Program. We are committed to supporting this important inland lake monitoring program and wanted to provide an update on the status of the program for 2020.

As communicated by the Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations elert on June 18, 2020, the Lake Partner Program was placed on hold in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and physical distancing requirements, so that the ministry assessed the safest way to continue the program while keeping volunteers and ministry staff safe. This assessment has been completed and the Lake Partner Program is being reinstated with the following temporary modifications for 2020:

  • For volunteers who cannot implement physical distancing measures, we recommend that you do not collect samples in 2020.
  • If you have already submitted samples for 2020 to the ministry laboratory, please do not submit additional samples this year. The ministry is striving to analyze samples that have already been received.
  • For volunteers who can safely collect samples while implementing physical distancing measures and adhering to local COVID-19 guidelines issued by the local Public Health Unit, the ministry will accept one set of samples for water quality analysis at the Dorset Environmental Science Centre laboratory from each volunteer. Please collect and submit a set of samples in October 2020. Instructions for sampling are provided in the sampling kit provided to you.

 

  • Secchi disc depth measurements collected in 2020 can be submitted to the ministry as per usual.

We appreciate your support for the Lake Partner Program and look forward to continuing our collaboration moving forward. If you have any questions, please contact lakepartner@ontario.ca.

Sincerely,

Melissa Robillard

 

Brine Tank Maintenance

/ Brandy Lake Muskoka / Leave a comment

Many  have BRINE  tanks on Brandy Lake for water purification or softener systems.    I clean mine once a year.

What happens  ..dirt accumulates at the bottom and prevents the brine from being sucked up the tiny hole….   The principle was invented by  Giovanni Battista Venturi.  Hence Venturi.  Basically two converging cones…big to small..small to big.  This increases the speed of the fluid between them.  This speed creates a vacuum thus sucking brine from the tank through a pipe connect to the high flow speed area.   This same pipe is used for fill

My tank has a raised bottom maybe 60 mm preventing salt particles from clogging the pipe.    A high level float level switch prevents tank  overflow on fill…

The only trick part is removing  pipe from the tank.   Do not overtighten….just snug when installing

Note..the white flange/pipe , in the end of the long pipe… that needs to be pulled out before nut will come off.  It is maybe 15 mm long.  Inside the nut is another grommet that prevents leaking.    See picture

Usually let the salt run low….then scoop it out and save it for winter ice.    The residue  water would have high salt concentration so make sure it goes over ground before hitting the lake…if at all.

Thoroughly wipe the tank with a safe solvent…that’s it.    To fill the tank..fast forward through the settings  until you reach ..:”REFILL” and let that go.  I measure my level with one bag of salt…..so I have a mark inside tank

Brandy Lake Watershed

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Below is the Brandy Lake watershed.   Part of the lake study (more to come) 2002 and 2003 Initiated by Jane Evans who started the BLA.

Jim Cormack did bi-weekly test from May to November for two years.

“Quote” The calculations suggest that the internal load represents
approximately 35% of the annual load to Brandy Lake, with the watershed (47%) and
atmosphere (2%) contributing nearly half of the total load. The load from shoreline
development is estimated at 16% of the total annual load In 2003

Subsequent to this study..there are about eight (8) beaver dams in inlet stream 1.  Jim Cormack and myself paddled from Falkenburg Road pipes to the Lake several years ago to count

 

JULY

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Great to see many on the lake… having fun through 95% of July until cold moved in…… .,         ,,,is it fall again…

Seemed like an  abnormally  wet July 2020 with 108.8 mm of rain.   2019…  20 mm   2018  had 83.4 mm .   June even had 143 mm  according to  stats.  Did I read it wrong?

Had a few warm days,,34 C, ish,,,,however 1978 it was 37.2.  HOT... Don’t like the heat… good thing not  cottaging in southern USA probably  tickin under 40C most days,

Good nights sleep at 11C..

Lake level is close to its normal level (You can verify this as it is just under shore  tree line..the last line of defence…(not cypress trees, they don’t grow up here).   So….Brandy Lake has had several external events over several decades…that have caused flood levels….if a cottager happen to move here during one of the events…..you would assume this is low.

For many years, the entire 5 ish meters of flat rock underneath this point was  …..a hang out.   It changed when  the 118 bridge was moved and the engineers raised the  base  or bottom ..under the bridge….higher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://muskoka.weatherstats.ca/charts/precipitation-monthly.html