EPA Study Done In 2007
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2007 study done on Sacheen Lake by the U.S. EPA.  Maggie Bell-Mckinnon is the biologist that led the group that actually did the "lake study" on Sacheen.  Her comments regarding the data collected are included.


May 28, 2009 06:08:24 PM,
mbel461@ECY.WA.GOV wrote:

Here are my observations on the data for Lake Sacheen:

·         There were no Enterococci bacteria present in the sample.

·         The algae cell counts were all on the low side.

·         With regard to water chemistry – turbidity was low (anything less than 25 NTU is considered good); total nitrogen was low (anything less than 1.0 ppm is good); total phosphorus was low (anything less than 25 ppb is good); chlorophyll-a was low (anything below 2.0 ug/L shows low algal densities); and the Secchi depth reading was good – over 18 feet.

I can’t really tell you anything about the zooplankton data – I will have to learn about those results as I write the final report.

To answer your question about blue-green algae, yes they can be a problem when they produce toxins.  Not all blue-green algae species produce toxins and even the species that do, don’t always produce the toxins.  It still hasn’t been determined what conditions cause a blue-green algae to produce toxins. 

Ecology currently has a blue-green algae sampling program where they will pay for toxin analysis on water samples collected from a lake.  Here is a link to a website explaining the program……………

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/plants/algae/index.html

   

On this day, your lake looked good.  But it is very important to remember this is only a single snapshot in time.  The only way to determine the state of your lake is to collect results over a period of time.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Maggie Bell-McKinnon, biologist
Environmental Assessment Program
Washington State Department of Ecology
PO Box 47600
Olympia, WA   98504-7600
phone:  (360) 407-6124
email:  MBEL461@ecy.wa.gov

DATATYPE Date Collected DEPTH_COLLECTED RESULT
Enterococcus Bacteria 9/6/200 7        0.3 meter 0
DATATYPE Date Collected  cells/mL GENUS SPECIES TAXA TYPE
Algae 9/6/2007 1707 Anabaena circinalis Blue-Green Algae
Algae 9/6/2007 134 Ceratium hirundinella Dinoflagellate
Algae 9/6/2007 100 Dinobryon eurystoma Yello-Green Algae
Algae 9/6/2007 745 Komma Cryptomonads
Algae 9/6/2007 42 Mallomonas Yello-Green Algae
Algae 9/6/2007 376 Ochromonas Yello-Green Algae
Algae 9/6/2007 803 Sphaerocystis schroeteri Green Algae
DATATYPE
Water Chemistry Date collected pH in the field pH in the lab Conductivity (uS/cm) Acid Neutralizing Capacity (ueq/L) Turbidity - NTU
9/6/2007 8.6 7.86 89.9 719.8 0.45
DATATYPE
Zooplankton Date Collected Net mesh size (um) Depth of Tow - meters'DEPTH_OF_TOW Genus Species Abundance
9/6/2007 243 21 Ceriodaphnia 9
9/6/2007 243 21 Chaoborus punctipennis 4
9/6/2007 243 21 Diacyclops 6
9/6/2007 243 21 Mesocyclops 15
9/6/2007 243 21 Daphnia pulex 148
9/6/2007 80 21 Ascomorpha 5
9/6/2007 80 21 Asplanchna 1
9/6/2007 80 21 Filinia 111
9/6/2007 80 21 Gastropus 2
9/6/2007 80 21 Hexarthra 1
9/6/2007 80 21 Kellicottia bostonensis 1
9/6/2007 80 21 Kellicottia longispina 22
9/6/2007 80 21 Keratella hiemalis 1
9/6/2007 80 21 Monostyla 1
9/6/2007 80 21 Polyarthra 5
9/6/2007 80 21 Pompholyx 5

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