Do You Live Near Lake Champlain? Help Seven Days and ProPublica Investigate Algae Blooms.

ProPublica · Jonathan Mingle · 2026-11-04 14:55 UTC

Seven Days and ProPublica have teamed up to investigate the cleanup of Lake Champlain. Have you been affected by this issue? We’d like to hear from you.

Despite being an iconic part of Vermont’s landscape and a large source of the state’s drinking water, Lake Champlain has been polluted for decades. Phosphorus runoff from farm fields, rural roads, parking lots, stormwater drains and wastewater treatment plants flows into the lake, fueling algae blooms that frequently choke its bays and shorelines.

Vermont is halfway through a 20-year effort to clean up the lake. In 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established new, stricter requirements for reducing phosphorus runoff that the state must meet by 2036. But more than a decade in, after spending nearly a billion dollars, the state is lagging behind. Water quality has not improved dramatically, and in some parts of the lake, it is getting worse. This past summer algae blooms shut down swimming at public beaches in St. Albans Bay in the northeast part of the lake.

Seven Days and ProPublica have teamed up to understand the reasons behind this lack of progress. We want to know how pollution in the lake is affecting Vermont’s economy and the lifestyles and livelihoods of Vermonters and visitors alike. We’re also interested in learning more about how persistently poor water quality in Lake Champlain affects Vermonters’ health, well-being and finances.

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