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Lake Carrying Capacities Homepage

February 17, 2008    

Possible exceptions in shallow and/or coloured lakes!

A note of caution: This web page is primarily related to the limiting nutrients and cultural eutrophication and does not address a myriad of inevitable post-development stressors some of which are potentially of significant ecological concern on a cumulative level!

Contents:

• Preferred recommendation on Total Phosphorus (TP) as a development objective:
  • Province of Québec is the leading Canadian Province in this  
  • Ontario's proposed policy, 1990
  • Environment Canada's Guidance Framework for the Management of Phosphorus in Freshwater Systems and Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME)'s recommendations

• Cautionary overview on predictive modelling  
  

• Select examples of leadership taken by dedicated municipalities:
  • The District Municipality of Muskoka, Ontario based on ice-free period mean Chlorophyll a
  • Kings County, Nova Scotia (a jpeg scan from HRM's WRMS) based on ice-free period mean Chlorophyll a
    • But the trouble with Chlorophyll a as a development objective
    • Notes: Although both the above examples are in the case of septic system densities, a similar methodology is applied in setting the amount of serviced land that can be developed in the entire watershed without severely impacting the downstream lakes, ponds and rivers; the inevitable post-development inputs are transported via storm sewer discharges; buffer strips will do little in removing such stressors

  • Minneapolis's leadership-- Lawn Fertilizer Bylaw

• See our select submissions to the regulatory authorities
• Also see our ongoing predictive modelling
• Buffer strips

• OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development):- Eutrophication of Waters (Vollenweider et al); Probability Distribution Diagrams preferred for trophic analyses re what 100 limnologists may conclude; an example of HRM lakes; the OECD Management Model provides a certain safety margin for the design of the loading objectives by defining trophic categories approximately at the class midpoints

• Trophic State Indices (TSI)

• Narrative on water quality, thus empowering the individual!
  

Trophic State Indices (TSI)

• TSI(TP) = 10(6-(ln(48/TP)/ln2))
• TSI(Cha) = 10(6-((2.04-0.68lnCha)/ln2))
• TSI(SD) = 10(6-(lnSD/ln2))
• (TP and Cha expressed as µg/l or mg/cu.m., and SD as metres)

Also see Trophic status and data evaluation methodology  

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