New Buoy Boosts White Lake’s Water Quality Monitoring and Conservation

White Lake in Western Michigan is a vestige of North America’s glacial past, and gets its name from an interpretation of the Indian, “Wabish-Sippe,” meaning the river with white clay.

The twin towns of Whitehall and Montague, which nestle on White Lake’s shore, have shared a close connection with the lake since their foundation–from the growth of the lumbering industry, to industrialization, the expansion of tourism, and most recently, environmental protection.

The White Lake Association (WLA) was founded in 1988 by residents concerned about proposed development at the lake’s northern end.

Supported by its members, the WLA remains dedicated to maintaining and improving the quality of White Lake for the health of its aquatic wildlife and local communities through monitoring and education.

Jim DeBoer is a Michigan native, aerospace engineer by training, and the Chief Science Officer for the WLA–a role that perfectly combines his passion for environmental protection with technology. He is responsible for leading water quality monitoring efforts on White Lake.

The NexSens XB-200 “Smart Buoy” was deployed at White Lake in June 2025. (Credit: Jim DeBoer)

Monitoring White Lake

White Lake has a “disturbing” history of industrial pollution via chemical companies, and in 1987, it was declared an Area of Concern (AOC) in the Great Lakes under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

In the same year, regular water quality testing to monitor for contaminants in White Lake was started by the WLA.

Although White Lake was delisted as an AOC in 2014, non-point source pollution remains a challenge. DeBoer explains that, “there is significant interest from the community in ensuring we don’t revert back to that state.”

Alongside teams at some 300 other lakes across Michigan, WLA volunteers take water samples.

“We collect temperature, dissolved oxygen, and clarity (Secchi disk) data every other week throughout the summer,” DeBoer says. “We also collect chlorophyll-a samples once a month, and phosphorus in the spring and fall.”

Samples are tested by professionals, and the interpreted data is made available to the WLA and others.

Deploying the New Buoy

On June 5, 2025, a NexSens XB-200 buoy was deployed in the deepest point of White Lake, in a project led by DeBoer and enabled by a $40K Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) Watershed Grant Award.

“The new buoy significantly augments our existing, volunteer-based water sampling efforts,” DeBoer effuses. “The XB-200 provides a much higher frequency–every 10 minutes–and accurate–not susceptible to human error–means of assessing key water quality parameters in real-time.”

On board the buoy is an X3 data logger, Airmar 200WX weather station, NexSens TS210 thermistor string and a YSI EXO3s water quality sonde for measuring dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll and phycocyanin. An RDO BLUE optical sensor also measures dissolved oxygen and temperature near the lake bottom.

“Once set up and properly moored, we can be confident that data will be collected throughout the summer with little to no maintenance required,” states DeBoer.

The WLA team preparing for the buoy deployment. (Credit: Jim DeBoer)

Real-Time Data at a Click

The X3 data logger is equipped with 4G cellular, enabling transmission of data every 10 minutes to WQ Data LIVE.

“The WLA plans to combine real-time access and glancing at charts and statistics with downloading full reports of water quality data for deeper dives,” DeBoer says.

The WLA recently upgraded to WQData LIVE’s “Professional” tier, which includes a 24/7 Public Portal—something that is crucial for the team.

DeBoer explains, “One of the primary benefits [of the buoy] to WLA is the instant availability of total algae (chlorophyll and phycocyanin) information, rather than collecting samples manually, sending into a lab, and waiting several months before seeing the results in an annual report.”

With improved data granularity, the WLA can get “early warning of the emergence of harmful algae blooms […] in order to issue timely swimming/fishing warnings as well as consider targeted treatment options.”

So far, “Particular attention has been paid to any spikes in chlorophyll levels and the dynamics of temperature at various depths and dissolved oxygen at the bottom, sharing and communicating the importance of this information for the general education of the community.”

Better Data for Education and Recreation

Data from the buoy has practical uses for the local community beyond scientific interest. With temperature measured every 5 feet from the lake surface to the bottom–approximately 70 feet deep–fishermen can get an indication of thermocline location.

“Weather station information is also useful for sailors and recreational boaters that are looking for temperature and wind conditions on the lake,” DeBoer indicates.

He continues, “Another key benefit is real-time access by the community to all of the information via the recently established Public Portal for the WLA Smart Buoy.”

The White Lake buoy is secured with a two-point mooring. (Credit: Jim DeBoer)

Real-Time Synergies

With just over a month’s data collected by the buoy since deployment, its primary use has been comparison with and benchmarking against manual data collection at two White Lake sites.

“We have seen excellent correlation thus far with the data we collect manually,” explains DeBoer, “and we look forward to comparing the lab-based chlorophyll levels once they’re available.”

Already, higher data resolution has highlighted relative spikes in chlorophyll levels, something that “points to the potential to miss elevated levels when restricted to only monthly collections.”

The Future

While the deployment of the buoy already represents an upgrade to the White Lake monitoring system, DeBoer is already looking to the future and what’s next.

“We recently received a ‘Smart Buoy Upgrade’ grant from EGLE that we look forward to using to further augment the sensor suite on our buoy,” he says.

“We are considering adding parameters such as conductivity, turbidity, and/or pH. We also look forward to getting all of the data in the hands of the experts and engaging with the community to better understand/communicate the state of health of White Lake and continue leveraging technology to monitor lake health as accurately as possible.”

White Lake’s new buoy is just one strand of many, bringing together investment, advocacy, and volunteering that, taken together, aim to forge a better future for the lake’s environment and local communities.

In celebration of the buoy deployment, the WLA organized a local party, which featured this showstopping buoy cake. (Credit: Jim DeBoer)