The Newsletter of Lake Watch of Lake Martin

Editor:  Eric Reutebuch

Letter from the President - Bill Butler

Greetings, Lake Watchers. I am very pleased to be writing what is my first letter to our membership. Thanks to all the board members who contributed to this newsletter. Mostly, thanks to Eric Reutebuch for making it happen. He and I were discussing publishing a newsletter, and I realized I did not know how to begin. Eric immediately stepped up, performed his wizardry and here we are.

As set out in more detail below, a slate of officers and directors was elected, a few new faces and many re-upping, at the annual meeting in February. We held a very productive board meeting in March, where we established a lot of goals and objectives for the year. One of the goals is to increase the frequency of contacts with all of our members. This newsletter is part of that effort.  We also plan to increase the amount of informational emails to our members, and to have a more active Facebook presence.

Another goal is to better publicize our board meetings to encourage attendance by any of our members who are interested.
 
Yet another goal is to have one or more general meetings during the year, as an opportunity for members to get to know each other better and perhaps to have a speaker on a topic of interest. Our water monitors continue to diligently test sites throughout the lake and the streams flowing into it. I believe this testing is Lake Watch’s most important activity. We play a crucial role in identifying otherwise unknown sources of pollution and in establishing a historical baseline of data that enables agencies such as the Alabama Department of Environment Management to track any positive or negative changes to Lake Martin’s water quality. We have a good group of trained monitors covering a lot of sites, but we can always use more volunteers.

We have some ambitious goals, but to achieve them we need participation from as many of our members as possible. Please be thinking about ways that we can improve Lake Watch. Please share any ideas you have for meeting locations, speakers and topics. There is information further on in this newsletter about our committees. We would really like to have more non-board members on them, so please consider volunteering in an area that interests you. The best way to communicate is by sending an email to info@lakewatch.org.

Thanks to all for your participation in and support of Lake Watch of Lake Martin. I am looking forward to working with you as we strive to protect and improve our Treasured Lake.

Achievements:

• 61 sites monitored regularly for water
 chemistry and bacteria in Lake Martin and
 its watershed

• Added 7 new lake sites to assess bacterial
 contamination

• Submitting 2025 data records from 61 sites
 to the AWW statewide water quality
 database

• Recruited 7 new water monitors

• Presented our Lake Watch story to
 the Alexander City Lion’s Club

• Educated students at the Tallapoosa
 County Water Festival

Lake Watch Officers*:

Bill Butler…President
 Craig Holloway….Vice-president
 Cheryl Losik…...Secretary
 Dave Maddox…….Treasurer

LW Board of Directors:

(*Officers also serve on board)
 Dianna Porter
 Eric Reutebuch
 Chuck Jeroloman
 Harry Denegre
 Joe & Marci Logan
 Kim Holloway
 Kathryn Braund
 Matt Campbell
 (Past President)

Elections

The Lake Watch board met on January 30, 2025 to discuss our plans for this year. We had a good meeting to discuss our goals and objectives to strengthen Lake Watch and to continue the protection of our Treasured Lake.

The Lake Watch board received the nomination of Bill Butler  for our new president! Bill has monitored for several years, served on the board and served as Lake Watch vice-president for the past three years.  THANK YOU Bill for stepping up!

The Lake Watch board also received the nomination of Craig Holloway for vice-president. Craig has monitored for several years and served on the board. THANK YOU Craig for stepping up!

We also were pleased to have Kathryn Braund, former Lake Watch President and retired AU professor, nominated to our board. THANK YOU Kathryn!

All three were voted in by the members at the annual meeting. And THANK YOU to all of our officers and board members that re-upped for another term: Dianna Porter, Cheryl Losik, Eric Reutebuch, Chuck Jeroloman, Harry Denegre, Joe Logan, Marci Logan, and Kim Holloway, and Matt Campbell (past president), for your efforts, ideas and actions in advancing our Lake Watch goals!

Committees – Cheryl Losik

To fulfill the goals of Lake Watch of Lake Martin, we have committees, each having their own purpose and goals within the group. Our committees are as follows:
 

• ·         Membership
• ·         Finance
• ·         Monitoring
• ·         Education Outreach
• ·         Information Technology
• ·         Graphite Plant/Clean Water Industry
• ·         Advocacy
• ·         Swim Alert

We are active participants in Lake Watch because we love this lake and this area. We want to keep it safe and clean forever. But we are always looking for people who feel the same way. If you are wanting to get more involved and have a love of Lake Martin, please consider joining us in keeping the goals of Lake Watch in sight.

We are always in need of new people with special skills to better fulfill the tasks of our various committees. Please consider helping out.  Contact our Lake Watch President, Bill Butler at info@lakewatch.org to find out how you can help.

Budget – Dave Maddox

At our January board meeting, our Treasurer, Dave Maddox, reported that the 2024 annual income was $13,371, and 2024 annual expenses were $4,678. The bank balance as of 12/31/2023 was $10,152; and $18,845 as of 12/31/2024. The current balance is higher than we have had over past years. This is due largely to the ongoing generous support of our members and also due to special memorial contributions for Dick Bronson and John Durr, who passed away last year. A big THANK YOU to all who support Lake Watch through annual dues and donations, especially our Silver, Gold and Platinum donors! We couldn’t operate without your support!

The Lake Watch board approved a budget recommendation for 2025 totaling $13,500, contingent upon sufficient 2025 income to match that budget:

$ 6,000    Monitors’ chemicals and supplies.
 $ 4,500    Business expenses, IT consultant & Wild Apricot program (website).
 $ 1,500    Officers’ attendance at conferences and continuing education events.
 $ 1,500    Youth and adult education materials and community outreach.
 $13,500    Total

The board identified the top priority item of Lake Watch paying the cost of the monitors’ chemicals and supplies. We are budgeting for a possible expense increase of as much as $3,000 annually in the form of a professional consultant to further develop and maintain our Lake Watch website and other online outreach materials. The board identified the ideal of maintaining a bank balance of $5,000. The actual 2025 expenditures will be adjusted throughout the year as necessary to match our 2025 expenses to our 2025 income to maintain a “balanced budget”.

Water Monitoring – Ann Campbell & Eric Reutebuch

As of the end of February 2025, Lake Watch had 25 bacteriological monitors at 57 sites in Lake Martin and in tributary creeks flowing into the lake; plus 10 water chemistry monitors at 13 sites throughout the lake, a total of 61 sites (6 sites are monitored for both bacteria and water chemistry.
 Our 61 active Lake Watch monitoring sites are mapped below (sites=green markers), from Little Hillabee Creek (in the lake’s headwaters above Hackneyville) down to the Martin Dam. I am happy to report that our volunteer water monitors’ data, for the most part, showed excellent water quality throughout the lake. There were however several sites that had violations of ADEM water quality standards. The violations were all due to fecal contamination measured as elevated E. coli levels in the water, exceeding the State standard of 235 E. coli per 100 mL of water (or 3 ½ ounces, about half a cup of water). As we have observed in the past, fecal contamination occurs in the streams and the Tallapoosa River above the lake, particularly after significant rain events. High E. coli levels have been measured in the following in the past few months: Creeks: Emuckfaw Timbergut, Little Hillabee, Hillabee Tallapoosa River at: Horseshoe Bend, Jaybird Landing, Andrew Jackson.

We are continuing our work to not only identify areas in the lake and its watershed that are contaminated with fecal matter (E. coli), but also working to identify where the contamination is coming from and get the perpetrators to clean up their act.

At an Alabama Water Watch training event for chemistry and bacteriological water monitoring, seven new Lake Watch monitors were trained and certified and several active monitors were re-certified on May 16, 2025 at Mary Olive Thomas Demonstration Forrest near Auburn (the AWW Quality Assurance Plan requires monitors to be re-certified at one year after being trained, then every two years).  Specifically, five new monitors were certified in chemistry and bacteriological monitoring and two in only bacteriological monitoring. THANK YOU Ann Campbell for coordinating our Lake Watch training! And THANK YOU Alabama Water Watch for conducting the workshop, and all of your support for Lake Watch!

      

The newly trained monitors will be testing bacteria at the following new sites:

➢ The bay near the Magnolia Cove development in Blue Creek
 ➢ Highway 34 boat ramp area
 ➢ Pleasure Point proposed marina site
 ➢ Embayment at Sandy Creek as it enters the lake
 ➢ Sandy Creek at Smith Mountain
 ➢ Near Dare Park proposed RV facility development
 ➢ West side of the Magnolia Crest area
 ➢ Dead Timbers Cove

Monitoring at the following sites will be reestablished:

➢ Castaway Marina
 ➢ Camp ASCCA

If you are interested in receiving training to be a water monitor, please contact our Monitor Coordinator, Ann Campbell at info@lakewatch.org. The courses are not difficult, and water sampling is a very worthwhile and rewarding activity, providing us with essential data to determine if our water is getting better or worse through time. Lastly - a big THANK YOU to all of our Lake Watch volunteer monitors!

Swim Alert – Eric Reutebuch

Lake Watch initiated the Swim Alert program in 2022 after detecting high levels of E. coli in the upper lake in the fall of 2021. Bacteriological monitoring is conducted monthly during the warm months (April-October) at sites throughout the lake and on several creeks popular for swimming and other water-recreation activities. As of this spring, we are sampling for bacteria (E. coli) at the sites identified below on the map. Check out the Swim Alert website regularly to avoid contacting contaminated waters (www.lakewatch.org/swim-alert).

 

Annual Meeting – Cheryl Losik

The Lake Watch annual meeting was held on Sunday, February 23, 2025, 1:30 - 4:00 PM at New Water Farms, 460 Civitan Road, Dadeville, AL. We were pleased to have guest speakers Cindy Lowry, Director of Alabama Rivers Alliance and Harold Banks, Tallapoosa River area naturalist and historian.

Cindy Lowry spoke on Alabama water sustainability and conditions, and how to keep this resource safe (pictured below on left). Lake Watch has presented ARA with a $300 check to support ARA’s water protection efforts. To learn more about all of the work that ARA does to protect Alabama’s
 waters go to https://alabamarivers.org .

Harold Banks presented an illustrated program on his canoe trip from the headwaters of the Tallapoosa River to the Gulf of Mexico. Harold and out-going Lake Watch president Matt Campbell presented a program based on Harold’s book, with Harold describing the trip and Matt presenting readings from Harold’s recently released book, By Paddle and Pack: Headwaters of the Tallapoosa to the Gulf of Mexico, 658 Miles by Solo Canoe.
 
Later, Matt presented Harold with the Woodfin Martin Award for Harold’s “exemplary contributions to public recreation on the Tallapoosa River and his advocacy for the health the Tallapoosa River Watershed and Lake Martin” (pictured below, center). Harold donated the proceeds from the sale of book at the meeting to Lake Watch, THANK YOU Harold

Incoming President Bill Butler presented a framed map of the lake to Matt and Ann Campbell for their many years of active and dedicated service to our organization and community (pictured above, right). Matt just completed a three year term as president and Ann continues to serve as our Volunteer Water Monitor Coordinator.

            

Lake Watch Environmental Education/Outreach

Water Festival

Lake Watchers Dianna Porter, Judy Palfrey and Cheryl
 Losik educated youth on the importance of water and
 protection of our water resources at the Tallapoosa
 Water Festival organized by 4H at Wind Creek State
 Park. They presented the ‘Water Cycle’ to more than
 125 4th grade students.

Lion’s Club

Bill Butler and Eric Reutebuch spoke to the Alexander City Lion’s Club in April. Their presentation was entitled: “Lake Watch of Lake Martin - Who We Are and What We Do”. Bill
 gave a general overview of the history and functions of the organization, and Eric discussed our monitoring activities, with a focus on the Swim Alert program. The presentation was well
 received and generated a lot of interest and questions. Thanks to member Ed Eiswerth for arranging this opportunity to publicize Lake Watch.

Collaboration Efforts

AWW - Lake Watch endorsed the AWW grant proposal, Co-designing Resiliency: From Monitoring to Making Change with Citizen Science Water Data to the to the National
 Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine Gulf Research Program and NOAA Environmental Literacy Program, submitted in May.

AWW - Lake Watch is benefiting from a generous grant that AWW received from the F Allen & Louise S Turner Foundation which provides funding for our water testing supplies.

SELC - Lake Watch signed on in support of comments submitted by the Southern Environmental Law Center, Recommendations on Implementation of the Definition of “Waters of the United States” to strengthen protections of the streams and rivers throughout the country.

News: Fish Consumption Advisories – Alabama Dept of Public Health

The 2025 list of contaminated water published annually by the Alabama Department of Public Health includes two embayments of Lake Martin listed for mercury contamination (map below). PCBs and other harmful chemicals are found in other surface waters throughout the state. Be advised that eating fish from the lakes, rivers, creeks and bays listed is not recommended. The two areas in Lake Martin that are contaminated with mercury are:

• 1.      Elkahatchee Creek Embayment (approx.. 0.5 miles downstream of Elkahatchee/Sugar Creek confluence): Largemouth Bass listed as "Do Not Eat Any" due to mercury contamination (page 27 of ADPH Advisory), and,
   
  
  
• 2.      Sugar Creek Embayment (empties into Elkahatchee Creek Embayment): - Largemouth Bass listed as "Do Not Eat Any" due to mercury contamination, and, - Channel Catfish listed as "Eat only 2 meals per month' due to mercury contamination (page 28 of ADPH Advisory)

Fish advisory waters, Elkahatchee Embayment and Sugar Creek Embayment, shown in red, just above Wind Creek State Park (source: https://adem.alabama.gov/e-maps-portal ).

For all fish consumption advisory listings throughout the state, see https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/tox/assets/2025_fishadvisory.pdf.

The source of the mercury contamination is listed as ‘atmospheric deposition’ in ADEM’s most recent list of impaired waters, the 2024 Alabama §303(d) List (https://adem.alabama.gov/water/water-quality/303d-information-and-map, page 14).

Closing Thoughts

YOU are what makes Lake Watch of Lake Martin work! We urge each of our Lake Watch members to spread the word about Lake Watch, to support our programs and to participate – give your neighbor a Lake Watch brochure and a pep talk. Help sign up new members to our team! Consider becoming a monitor or a trainer. Volunteer to serve on one of our committees. Consider an additional donation to Lake Watch! Not everyone can get out and monitor water, or teach in a classroom, or give a presentation, but each member is
 essential to our success. We welcome your suggestions/ideas on how to better protect our lake from emerging threats.

Together, we can make a difference in the protection of our lake, in water conservation and clean water advocacy, and in the world we leave for our children. If every Lake Watch member encourages one or two friends to join in our efforts, it will go a long way toward ensuring the continuation of the good work we've accomplished over the past 30 years. Go visit your neighbor and convince him or her to sign up. Signing up is easy, just go to our website, www.lakewatch.org/new-or-renew and click the menu item ‘Get Involved’, you’ll be glad you did!

 

Dues Reminder

Take the plunge, if you haven’t already!

 Protect Lake Martin by supporting Lake Watch!

 And ask a neighbor to do the same!

Lake Watch Wants You!

To renew your membership or to join, you can pay online (preferred) or send your check to: P. O. Box 425, Dadeville, AL 36853

Membership levels are listed below:
 Regular dues (annual):
 Student $15
 Individual $20
 Family $30

Lake Martin Steward:
 Silver $50
 Gold $100
 Platinum $250

We also welcome donations of any amount. Don't forget – a donation in someone's honor/ memory is a lovely tribute.  You can also do that on the online donation page of our site.