Land Use and Water Quality Assessment of Swan Lake (Phase II)


Project Year:

2015

Project Budget:

$33,758

WCQI Grant:

$15,000

Organization:
Regional District North Okanagan

Project Description:

This project was successful in designing and undertaking a program to measure the influence of surrounding land uses on water quality in Swan Lake. The combination of water quality sampling and a land use inventory and max flux model, was able to identify anthropogenic impacts on water quality, provide an indication of the importance of different land uses on water quality and identify some interesting/concerning water quality characteristics.

The outflow from Swan Lake is Vernon Creek, which flows into Okanagan Lake. Water quality in Swan Lake, therefore can impact water quality throughout the Okanagan valley. Given that there was next to no information regarding water quality in Swan Lake, this project has contributed significantly to the understanding of water quality in the northern part of the basin.

Filed under: