Blue Lake IA 06-WEM-1728

Alternate name(s) for this segment: Lewis and Clark Lake

Monona County S35T84NR46W 2 mi. W of Onawa.

This is a Legacy Assessment. Prior to 2004, assessments were developed under a methodology that pre-dated the Integrated Report guidelines.

Assessment Cycle

1994

Result Period

1990 - 1992

Designations

Assessment Type

Monitored

Integrated Report

Category 0

Legacy ADBCode

IA 06-WEM-00445-L_0

Overall Use Support

Threatened

Aquatic Life Use Support

Threatened

Fish Consumption

Not assessed

Primary Contact Recreation

Threatened

Documentation

Assessment Comments

Monitored in 1992 by ISU as part of the Clean Lakes Classification Study (1994).

Basis for Assessment

Both fishable and swimmable uses were assessed as FST for the following reasons: (1) results of ISU monitoring show that averages of total-P and secchi depth are slightly worse than overall averages for the 116 SPOLs sampled in 1990 and 1992 (although both total-P and secchi are within +/- 1 SD of the overall mean); thus, although average levels of chl-a and TSS are better than overall averages, the data suggest that Blue L. has approximately average water quality for SPOLs in Iowa; (2) Bachmann et al. (1994) report a summer fishkill frequency of 10 percent, thus suggesting a problem with organic enrichment; (3) water quality (especially secchi depth and chl-a) are too close to average to justify a FS assessment of swimmable uses.