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| Title | Water Quality Assessments of Selected Lakes within Washington State: 1999 | |
| Month-Year Published | July 2001 | |
| Online Availability |
958 kilobytes, requires version 4.0 or later of Adobe Acrobat Reader Software get Acrobat Reader
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| Short Description |
Beginning in 1998, the Washington State Department of Ecology began a new approach to assessing lake water quality. Traditionally, lake monitoring focused on long-term trends in water clarity and general lake assessments. Although trend data are crucial in documenting declining or improving water quality, they provide very little information as to whether or not beneficial uses of a lake are impaired. This new approach is an attempt to evaluate the condition of the beneficial uses on certain lakes throughout the state and to recommend lake-specific nutrient criteria for those lakes in order to protect or restore their uses. (Also see abstract below) | |
| Publication Number | 01-03-009 | |
| Author(s) | O'Neal, S., D. Hallock, and K. Smith | |
| Print Availability | ||
| Number of pages | 22 pp. + app (196 total) | |
| Keywords | assessment, beneficial use, fish, lake, monitoring, order, plan, standards, study, trend, water, water quality, water quality standards | |
| Abstract | Long Description |
Beginning in 1998, the Washington State Department of Ecology began a new approach to assessing lake water quality. Traditionally, lake monitoring focused on long-term trends in water clarity and general lake assessments. Although trend data are crucial in documenting declining or improving water quality, they provide very little information as to whether or not beneficial uses of a lake are impaired. The original intent of the Clean Water Act was to protect the beneficial uses (e.g., swimmable, drinkable, fishable) of our waters. This new approach is an attempt to evaluate the condition of the beneficial uses on certain lakes throughout the state and to recommend lake-specific nutrient criteria for those lakes in order to protect or restore their uses. New methods were developed to evaluate variables on some of our monitored lakes. Monitoring concentrated on assessing fish and wildlife habitat, zooplankton, aquatic plants, watershed condition, water chemistry, and user perception. Beneficial uses were determined by evaluating the user perception surveys and talking with conservation district representatives and the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife biologists. A lake-specific criterion was then recommended to protect or improve conditions on the lake. Lake-specific criteria were determined using procedures outlined in general in Washington′s Water Quality Standards (WAC 173-201A) and in more detail herein. If proposed criteria are codified into the WAC, then, should a criterion ever be exceeded in a particular lake, measures could be taken either to reduce nutrient concentrations or to conduct a more detailed study in order to refine the criterion. |
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
