Lake Monitoring

The ambient lake monitoring program began in 2000 as an effort to better understand and characterize lake water quality in Iowa. The objective of this program is to sample 132 of Iowa’s recreational lakes and to describe current water quality and trends in water quality. Because temporal variability of Iowa’s watersheds is great, samples are collected 3 times a summer at each of the 132 lakes from May through September. Monitoring crews navigate to the deepest point in the lake where they collect water samples for numerous chemical, physical, and biological parameters. From 2000 through 2007 Iowa State University (ISU) conducted the ambient lake monitoring program. From 2005 through the present the University Hygienic Laboratory has also collected samples as part of the ambient lake monitoring program in an effort to expand the scope of the program.
	Dale Maffitt Lake, Polk County. Photo courtesy of Iowa State University Limnology Laboratory.

See which lakes are being monitored Look at the list of parameters Read the 2005 Scientific Initiatives Report Land Use and Soil Erosion Maps for Monitored Lakes Carter Lake Data - Cyanobacteria Iowa State University Limnology UHL Ambient Lake monitoring program data

For more information, contact Lisa Fascher at: lisa.fascher@dnr.iowa.gov.