Lake Water Quality

Lake water quality is an excellent indicator of the intensity of activities in the watershed. Monitoring these activities over time provides insights into the overall health of the watershed.

Phosphorus
As with rivers, the presence and amount of phosphorus in lakes is a result of a combination of variables, including the source water and the local natural environment, as well as human impacts. The map below shows the results from measurements of a number of lakes, and gives an indication of comparative phosphorus amounts in different parts of the watershed.³³ The amount of phosphorus in lakes is related to the intensity of the human footprint in the watershed.

Bacteria
No bacteria data were available for lakes in the Mighty Peace watershed. The northernmost samples are from Alberta Health's recreational beach monitoring program in the vicinity of Edmonton.

Note: The index on the map represents the lowest (0) to the highest (10) lake phosphorus concentrations in Alberta. Water quality of lakes in the Peace & Slave River Watershed were plotted on this scale. Each point represents a lake that was sampled at least three times during a summer either before or after the year 2000.

Phosphorus in watershed lakes

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Source: ESRD

+ Full-size map