Water monitors to test quality of Bloomington lakes

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) - Bloomington city officials and Illinois State University are teaming up to install stations to monitor water quality in the city's two water-supply lakes.

The (Bloomington) Pantagraph reports (http://bit.ly/20sxAv5) stations will be installed in creeks flowing into Lake Bloomington and Evergreen Lake this spring. Data will be posted on a website showing how fast water is flowing into the lakes, how much and how pure it is.

Residents may use the data to prepare for flooding or determine when recreation is best. But Catherine O'Reilly, associated professor of geography and geology at ISU, says the two stations costing $38,000 will be important to measure sediment and impurities such as nitrogen.

A survey last year found residents satisfied with the water quality in both lakes.

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Information from: The Pantagraph, http://www.pantagraph.com