DES MOINES - Iowa State University has begun installing water quality monitoring equipment in 16 Iowa lakes to collect data during the 2011 and 2012 ice-free seasons that will help identify what factors lead up to harmful algal blooms, which is a major water quality impairment for Iowa lakes.
The study is being conducted in cooperation with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Hazard buoys mark the location of the equipment, which is beneath the water surface and officials are asking the public to not disturb the buoys.
The following lakes will be part of the monitoring study:
- Arrowhead Lake, Sac
- Badger Lake, Webster
- Beeds Lake, Franklin
- Big Spirit Lake, Dickinson
- Black Hawk Lake, Sac
- Center Lake, Dickinson
- East Lake, Clarke
- Five Island Lake, Palo Alto
- George Wyth Lake, Black Hawk
- Lake Keomah, Mahaska
- Lake Orient, Adair
- Lower Gar Lake, Dickinson
- Rock Creek Lake, Jasper
- Silver Lake, Palo Alto
- Silver Lake, Dickinson
- Springbrook Lake, Guthrie