Lakes of Missouri Volunteer Program

University of Missouri-Columbia

The

Missouri’s Lakes and Reservoirs

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources

Region V11, US Environmental Protection Agency, through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, has provided partial funding for this project under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act

Tony Thorpe Dan Obrecht Jack Jones

405 Classified Lakes/Reservoirs

• ~108 are Drinking Water Supply (LC1)

• 14 are Major Reservoirs (LC2)

Most are man-made reservoirs, with about 15 - 20 oxbow lakes.

Of the 405 Classified Waterbodies, we have at least 4 years worth of data on 134

What follows is a summary of the physical features of those 134 waterbodies

“A central paradigm of modern limnology is that external nutrient loading, modified by morphology and hydrology, determines the trophic state of a lake.”

Jones et al. 2005

Lake Morphology• Surface Area• Depth• Volume

Lake Hydrology• Watershed Area• Residence Time

External Loading• Land Use

Surface Area

Ranges from 6 to 53,814 acres in size, with a median of 103 acres.

Break down by size

1 - 10 acres

11 - 20 acres

21 - 40 acres

41 - 75 acres

76 - 150 acres

151 - 300

301 - 10001,001 - 2,0002,001 - 10,000> 10,000

acres

30% of classified lakes are 20 acres or less in size.

10% are greater than 300 acres in size.

Average Depth

Ranges from 3.7 feet to 62 feet, with a median of 11.6 feet.

Lake Volume

Ranges from 48 to 2,700,000 acre-feet, with a median of 1,675 acre-feet.

1 acre-foot = 325,851 gallons

1 acre1 foot

Lake Hydrology

Watershed Area

Ranges from 83 to > 4,000,000 acres, with a median of 2,516

acres.

Residence Time

Ranges from 2.6 days to 9 years, with a median of 10.5 months.

External Loading

Land Cover within watersheds

Forest = 0 – 95%

Grass = 0 – 78%

Crop = 0 – 74%

Urban = 0 – 96%

Using the 134 classified lakes for which we have >= 4 years worth of data

7

20

55

148

To

tal

Ph

osp

ho

rus

(g

/L)

Medium

Amount of Row Crop in the Watershed

Low High

Land Cover and Water Quality:Row Crop

Data points based on summertime averages near the dam

7

20

55

148

To

tal

Ph

osp

ho

rus

(g

/L)

Medium

Amount of Forest in the Watershed

Low High

Land Cover and Water Quality:Forest

Data points based on summertime averages near the dam

Trophic Classification

Oligo Meso Eutro Hyper

TP 10 36 81 7

TN 11 22 92 9

CHL a 15 23 92 4

Distributions based on long-term averages

Phosphorus (micrograms per liter)

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 2000

10

20

30

4050%

# of

wat

erbo

dies IX – 20 ug/L

XI – 8 ug/L

(EPA recommendations as of July 2002)

Nitrogen (micrograms per liter)

# of

wat

erbo

dies

0

10

20

30

50%

IX – 360 ug/LXI – 460 ug/L

(EPA recommendations as of July 2002)

Chlorophyll (micrograms per liter)

# of

wat

erbo

dies

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 600

10

20

30

50%

IX – 4.9 ug/LXI – 2.8 ug/L

(EPA recommendations as of July 2002)

Break down by size

“Small” Reservoirs:

less than 2000 acres

“Large” Reservoirs:

more than 2000 acres

“Large” Reservoirs

0 10 20 30 40Phosphorus (ug/L)

Long Branch

Mark Twain

Smithville

Stockton 3

Taneycomo

Lake Ozarks 13

Pomme de Terre

Table Rock

Bull Shoals 7

2004 LMVP Data

0 50 100 150 200

Phosphorus (ug/L)

Creve Couer

Ashland

Grindstone

Cameron 3

Springfield

Simpson

Prairie Lee

JenningsLamar

Butler

Binder

Springfork

Little Dixie

Eureka

Mahoney

Sugar Creek

Longview

Water Works

Rothwell

Tri City

JacomoBlue Springs

Bowling Green 1Bowling Green 2

0 10 20 30 40Phosphorus (ug/L)

Long Branch

Mark Twain

Smithville

Stockton 3

Taneycomo

Lake Ozarks 13

Pomme de Terre

Table Rock

Bull Shoals 7

“Small” Reservoirs

Inset is to scale

2004 LMVP Data

Types of Variability

• Temporal

• Spatial

Temporal Variability

Little Dixie Lake – Seasonal Patterns

2004 LMVP Data

Ph

osp

ho

rus

(ug

/L)

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

4/23/2004 5/13/2004 6/2/2004 6/22/2004 7/12/2004 8/1/2004 8/21/2004 9/10/2004 9/30/2004

LMVP

Little Dixie Lake – Seasonal PatternsP

ho

sph

oru

s (u

g/L

)

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

4/23/2004 5/13/2004 6/2/2004 6/22/2004 7/12/2004 8/1/2004 8/21/2004 9/10/2004 9/30/2004

Daily Project

LMVP

1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004

Year

20

40

60

80

Ph

os

ph

oru

s (

ug

/L)

Range = 37 - 95 ug/LRange = 37 – 95 ug/L

Spatial Variability

Phosphorus Concentrations: Lake of the Ozarks

Variability within a lake2002 LMVP Data

Phosphorus Concentrations: Table Rock Lake

Variability within a lake2002 LMVP Data

930 acresApproximately 1 mile between the two sites.

25

27

Phosphorus Concentrations: Longview Lake

Variability within a lake