Lake Status

Eagle Lake & Watershed Quality Data

The Eagle Lake Association works with local areas of Government and Agencies to keep Eagle Lake at the forefront of potential funding opportunities that will preserve and enhance our lakes water quality.

The monitoring we do on the lake and watershed are listed in the EQuIS data base. This data is used by state environmental agencies, EPA and other federal agencies, universities, private citizens, and many others. This mean that our hard work and continuous monitoring efforts over th eyears will be useable data for the above listed agencies to use in helping them develop long term strategies for improving water quality in our state and county.

Please remember to do your part in protecting our lakes and streams. Do not use Phosphorus in your fertilizer. This gets into the lake and helps produce weeds and algae. One pound of Phosphorus produces 300-500 lbs of weeds. do not rake or burn your leaves in or near the shoreline. Leaves are also very phosphorus rich. Dumping your leaves across the road in ditches and wetland areas are storage basins to help slow down the transfer of pollution from run off. This water eventually ends up in the lake. Illegal dumping is also against the law!

2011 Secchi Disk Readings

For definitions on TP (Total Phosphorus and Chlorophyl a click on this link.

Target

Range 23-50 5-22 4.9 - 10.5

Date

TP (ug/l)

Chla (ug/l)

Secchi (ft)

5/3/2011			2.5
5/28/2011			22

6/3/2011			26
6/5/2011	42	0	29.5

6/24/2011			7.5
6/30/2011			6
7/9/2011	47	40	2.5

7/16/2011			3.5
7/24/2011	41	18	5

8/5/2011

3.5

8/12/2011			3.5
8/21/2011			3.5
8/27/2011			3.5

9/4/2011			4
9/19/2011			4
9/26/2011	54	26	5.5

2011	45	21	8.3

9/26/2011

Season average secchi disk of 8.3 is somewhat misleading do to the 20 foot readings taking in early June. We spent most of the summer in the 3.5 foot range. The past three years we've seen a steady increase in phosphorus levels.

8/28/2011

Our Secchi disk average for July and August is around 3.5 feet. This is one of the lowest averages we've seen since 1999 when we started taking weekly Secchi disk readings. We typically see an average of 5-6 feet in these two months.

8/4/2011

Chlorophyl a dropped to 18 ug/l on 7/24. This is at the high end of the target range for our lake. I've sent the latest results of our water testing to Ethan Jenzen DNR hydroligist for review and stress the importance of getting something done with Halvorson and lawler inlets to minimize the amount of run off nutrients entering Eagle Lake. Also with the relocation of highway 9 steps need to be taken to improve nutrient run off.

7/27/2011

Over 3 inches of rain helped drop the water tempature down 5 degrees since last secchi. We have dramatically less Filamentous Algae this year compared to 2009 when clarity also peaked to 29 feet. It's possible higher water levels we're seeing this year compared to 2009 is why we have less Filamentous Algea this year. I've never seen Chlorophyl a at 40 ug/l as it was on 7/9. Took an additional sample on 7/24 to re check.

7/9/2011

Water Tempature is up to 82 degrees. On June 24th it was only 70. Our TP (Total Phosphorus) continues to be at the high end of the range the for lake in similar echoregions as Eagle Lake.

6/5/2011

The previous high clarity reading every recorded was 29 feet on May 11 2009. The range of secchi disk readings for this time of the year is 4-12 feet.

5/22/2011

May 22 2009 we started having the Filamentous Algae problem. This was the only other year we saw clarity this good. Click on the water quality tab to see the historical averages for Eagle Lakes water quality.

Eagle Lake Improvement Association

P.O. Box 1653 Willmar, MN. 56201