LakeWatch Water Quality Data

The Alberta Lake Management Society accepts requests from citizen scientists across Alberta to have their lake monitored as part of the LakeWatch program. Volunteers often contact the Alberta Lake Management Society due to concerns around eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, watershed developments, biodiversity monitoring, and for the early detection of aquatic invasive species. If accepted into the program, a lake will be monitored 4-5 times throughout the open water season: once in June, once in July, twice in August, and once in September. ALMS hires and trains field technicians in proper sampling techniques and it is these field technicians who arrange the sampling trips with the citizen scientists. At the lake, the citizen scientist’s role is to transport the technicians around the lake on a boat and to assist with sampling. The field technicians provide all necessary sampling equipment, support the volunteers in training, and oversee sample preservation, handling, and shipment. This program is free of charge for individuals hoping to collect water quality data from their lake. This program is made possible with the support of various funders, including the Government of Alberta, and would not be possible without hundreds of hours of volunteer time by lake stewards.

Citation

Alberta Lake Management Society (ALMS). 2022-04-30. "LakeWatch Water Quality Data" (dataset). 4.0.0. DataStream. https://doi.org/10.25976/vmet-ct64.

Data Collection Information

Data is collected as both a profile and a composite sample. For profiles, Hydrolab multiparameter sondes are used to measure depth, temperature, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, and redox potential at one location on the lake. Samples are recorded in increments of 0.5 or 1.0 meters. The multiparameter probes are calibrated on a weekly basis, with the exception of the RO meter which is calibrated monthly. At this location, a Secchi disk depth reading is also collected. The composite sample is comprised of water collected from ten locations around the lake. These samples are collected from the lake’s euphotic zone using a one-way foot-valve attached to weighted tubing. Samples collected using the composite method are ultimately poured off into various bottles to be tested for various parameters. Nutrients and general water chemistry are analyzed by Maxxam Analytics whereas total recoverable metals are analyzed by Innotech. Chlorophyll-a samples are filtered by field technicians before being sent for analysis.

Biological data is also collected through the LakeWatch program. Biological data includes a zooplankton haul at the lake’s profile site, samples collected to detect spiny water flea and Dreissenid mussels, and a sample collected as part of the composite for phytoplankton taxonomy.

A duplicate true-split total phosphorus sample is collected once per season at each lake to act as a quality control.

Attribution Licence (ODC-By) v1.0

You are free to share, copy, distribute, use, modify, transform, build upon, and produce works from the data as long as you attribute any public use of the data, or works produced from the data, in the manner specified in the licence. For any use or redistribution of the data, or works produced from it, you must make clear to others the licence of the data and keep intact any notices on the original data. https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/by/1-0/

API Access

curl -G https://api.datastream.org/v1/odata/v4/Records --data-urlencode "\\$filter=DOI eq '10.25976/vmet-ct64'" -H "x-api-key: PRIVATE-API-KEY"

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