TABLE OF CONTENTS This chapter includes mainly lake morphometry, evaporation, and the Clean Lakes Program (CLP). Since most lake management programs in the United States are based on the CLP, the CLP is discussed in detail. Regulatory requirements and standardization of research and application are provided with a focus on the Phase 1, diagnostic/feasibility study.
Lakes are extremely complex systems whose conditions are a function of physical, chemical, and biological (the presence and predominance of the various plants and organisms found in the lake) factors. Lakes inherently function as traps or sinks for pollutants from tributary watershed and drainage basins or from atmospheric precipitation.
Like streams, lakes are most often impaired by agricultural activities (main sources in the United States), hydrologic/habitat modification (stream channelization), and point pollution sources. These activities contribute to nutrient and sediment loads, suspended solids, and organic matter, and subsequently cause overgrowth of aquatic plants. The resulting decline in water quality limits recreation, impairs other beneficial uses, and shortens the expected life span of a lake.
Common lake problems are eutrophication, siltation, shoreline erosion, algal bloom, bad taste and/or odor, excessive growth of aquatic vegetation, toxic chemicals, and bacterial contamination. Eutrophication, or aging, the process by which a lake becomes enriched with nutrients, is caused primarily by point and nonpoint pollution sources from human activities. Some man-made lakes and impoundments may be untrophic from their birth. These problems impact esthetic and practical uses of the lake. For example, the growth of planktonic algae in water-supply...
