lacamas lake water quality is lacamas lake safe to swim in?
Post on 29-Mar-2015
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Lacamas Lake Water Quality
Is Lacamas Lake safe to swim in?
I began this project with the assumption that Lacamas Lake was safe to swim in but is it?
This spot is so beautiful with a boat launch, pier, picnic areas and trails.
After studying this area for a few weeks my opinion started to change. Is all of this beauty just lipstick on a pig?
This lake is 65 feet deep and 315 acres.
It extends from Hockinson on the North end to Camas on the South.
This watershed flows through forest, farm, industrial and residential areas .
Poor land management and development has allowed sediment and toxins to spill into the lake causing algae growth and eutrophication below 18 feet.
High nitrogen, phosphorus and ammonia levels have been recorded.
Lake health has not improved much since clean up efforts in the 80’s and 90’s.
Sedimentation in Lake
1800 1850 1900 1950 20000
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
Changes in Lacamas Lake Sedimentation
Year
Perc
ent
Incre
ase in S
edim
enta
tion
Land Use Around Lacamas Lake
forest
farm
developed
water
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Land Use in Lacamas Creek Watershed
Heritage trail is 3.5 miles of beautiful scenery and well maintained green space.
Satellite view of Lacamas Lake
Water Height from Surface to Bottom of Pier
Trial #1 July 10
Trial# 2 July 18
Trial #3 August 8
Trial #4 August 15
Trial #5 August 22
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Water Height
Centimeters
Water Temperature
Trial #1 July 10
Trial# 2 July 18
Trial #3 August 8
Trial #4 August 15
Trial #5 August 22
0 5 10 15 20 25
Water Temperature
Degrees Celsius
Air Temperature
Trial #1 July 10
Trial# 2 July 18
Trial #3 August 8
Trial #4 August 15
Trial #5 August 22
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Air Temperature
Degrees Celsius
pH levels
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Trial 4
Trial 5
6.4 6.6 6.8 7 7.2 7.4 7.6 7.8 8 8.2
pH levels
pH
BOD
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Trial 4
Trial 5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Biochemical Oxygen Demand
parts per million
Dissolved Oxygen
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Trial 4
Trial 5
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Dissolved Oxygen % Saturation
% saturation
Phosphates
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Trial 4
Trial 5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Phosphates
parts per million
Nitrate – none detected
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Trial 4
Trial 5
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Nitrates
Nitrate ppm
Macro-invertebrates
We were disappointed after evaluating the macro-invertebrates in the lake.
Finds:4 aquatic worms2 blackfly larvae3 midge larvaeThese are all tolerantThis would indicate that the water quality
is poor.
Summary
The biggest surprise for me was that I cultured e coli in Lacamas Lake twice of the three tests. I contacted the health department both times and they didn’t seem too concerned, also surprising.
I had no idea that Lacamas Lake was so polluted or that it was eutrophic.
It is good information for me to have when planning to go swimming.
Too bad the general public doesn’t have this information readily available. I was able to find out with some difficulty that Lacamas is only monitored once a month from May to December by volunteers. When looking for the results of this testing, I could only find a water study from 1997.
It would be helpful to the public to be able to access this data so they
could make an informed choice about where to swim in the summer.
Is Lacamas Lake safe to swim? In my opintion no, except for dogs.
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