As a Realtor who enjoys selling lakefront properties as well as a homeowner who enjoys living on a lake, I am excited about a new research study that my son Lukas and I will be participating in.  We will be testing the water quality in the lake we live on - Lake Steilacoom - in Lakewood, WA.  The Pierce County Health Department is coordinating the effort, in which the water quality of 10 Pierce County Lakes, including American Lake, Lake Steilacoom, Spanaway Lake, Harts Lake, Ohop Lake, and 5 others, will be tested twice a month until September.  Tonight was our initial volunteers' meeting, where we reviewed the instructions for how to conduct the sampling, and were issued our official sampling equipment.  My son was especially impressed with the giant thermometer (for testing the water temperature) and the Secchi Disk we will use to check the quality at different depths. I think this will be a fun experience for my budding scientist son, and I hope it will help determine long term solutions to protect our natural resources as well.