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INNOVATIVE RESEARCH FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Village Blue Lake Pontchartrain
Real-time water quality monitoring to help communities better understand
Lake Pontchartrain water quality and its connection to the Mississippi River
The proposed sensor deployment site on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain.
Photo: Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation
What is Village Blue Lake
Pontchartrain?
EPA and the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) initiated the Village Blue
research project in 2017 to provide
real-time water quality monitoring
data to local and regional
communities and increase public
awareness about water quality.
A new Village Blue monitoring site
has been established in New
Orleans, Louisiana on Lake
Pontchartrain, a 630-square-mile
estuary used for recreational and
commercial uses such as swimming,
boating, kayaking, camping and
fishing.
Village Blue Lake Pontchartrain
expands on a former Village Blue
project in Baltimore, Maryland.
Village Blue Baltimore was
launched in 2017 to measure water
quality in the Baltimore Inner Harbor.
Village Blue also builds on EPA's
Village Green project, which
provided air quality information to
eight communities across the U.S.
Who are our partners?
The Village Blue Lake Pontchartrain
partners presently include EPA,
USGS, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers (USACE), and the
Pontchartrain Conservancy,
however the project's coordinators
also plan to partner with local
organizations. EPA and USGS are
looking for community and academic
partners interested in water quality,
water quality sensors, ecological and
human health, and communication
of water quality information. The
project may also provide
opportunities for additional research
efforts.
What will the water quality
sensors measure?
EPA and USGS installed a new
water quality sensor site near the
New Canal Lighthouse on the south
shore of Lake Pontchartrain in early
2021. The sensors will measure
algae, chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen,
pH, temperature, turbidity and
nitrate and will be updated every
hour. Water sensor data from this
new site and an existing USGS site
on the Mississippi River in Baton
Rouge, Louisiana will be combined
and displayed in near real-time on
the USGS National Water
Information System (NWIS) website.
The two measurement sites will
allow river and lake conditions to
be evaluated separately under
normal weather and flow
conditions, and in combination
when river and lake waters come
together during openings of the
Bonnet Carre Spillway. The Bonnet
Carre Spillway is a flood control
feature of USACE's Mississippi River
and Tributaries project 12 miles west
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development

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of New Orleans that diverts
floodwaters from the Mississippi
River through Lake Pontchartrain
into the Gulf of Mexico.
Additional water sampling will be
conducted to evaluate potential
harmful algal blooms (HABs) based
on satellite data from the
Cyanobacteria Assessment Network
web application (CyAN app). EPA
scientists developed the CyAN app
to help local and state water quality
managers make faster and better-
informed management decisions
related to cyanobacterial blooms.
The water sensor data displayed
online will complement work that
state and local organizations are
doing to make water quality data
available to the public.
Mow will data be displayed
online?
Data collected by the Village Blue
Lake Pontchartrain sensors will be
displayed on the USGS National
Water Information System (NWIS)
website. The project and
associated outreach activities will
be described on EPA's Village Blue
website. Village Blue data could be
used to show how factors in Lake
Pontchartrain, like nutrient inputs,
contribute to environmental
challenges such as stormwater
runoff and potential harmful algal
blooms.
How will this project benefit the
community?
Beginning in February 2021 and
continuing over the next two years,
the Village Blue Lake Pontchartrain
project will provide real-time water
quality information on nutrients and
potential algal blooms. This
information will allow users to
develop a greater understanding of
water quality issues, such as the
ways that heavy rainfall can
contribute to changes in nitrate,
turbidity, and dissolved oxygen
levels in water bodies. This
information can be used by citizens
and water quality professionals to
inform community, policy, and
environmental restoration efforts.
EPA CONTACTS:
Technical Contact:
Kevin Oshima
oshima.kevin@epa.qov
Region 6 Project Contact:
Mike Schaub
schaub.mike@epa.qov
Project Outreach Contact:
Danny Wiegand
wieqand.dannv@epa.qov
Media Contact:
Emily Smith
smith. emilv@epa. gov
RARE Program Contact:
Michael Morton
morton.michael@epa.qov
This project was funded through
EPA's Regional Applied Research
Effort (RARE) Program with
additional support from EPA's
Region 4 Gulf of Mexico Division.
The RARE Program is administered
by EPA's Regional Science Program.
For more information, visit:
epa.gov/research/regional-science-
program-fact-sheet
~ A El 6:18
< oEPA ©Q-o
Parish Governing Authority Dis L 06/01 /19
Transparency
A satellite image of an algal bloom 011
Lake Pontchartrain from the CyAN
application.
RESOURCES:
1.	Village Blue Website:
epa.gov/water-research/village-
blue
2.	Village Green Website:
epa.gov/air-research/village-
qreen-proiect
3.	USGS National Water Information
System (NWIS):
waterd ata. usgs.gov/nwis
4.	Cyanobacteria Assessment
Network Mobile Application
epa.gov/water-
research/CvANapp
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development

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