Water quality assessment and ecoregional comparison of a reservoir in east-central Indiana

Figures & data

Figure 1 Location of Prairie Creek Reservoir and sampling sites.

Table 1 Water quality parameters measured at the reservoir from May to September 2007.

Parameters		N	Min.	Max.	Mean ± Std. Dev.
Alkalinity** (mg/L CaCO3)	E†	20	130.0	146.0	135.5 ± 5.4
	H ^††	20	132.0	178.0	150.0 ± 18.8
Conductivity (μS/cm)	E	22	278.5	364.9	328.6 ± 2.08
	H	22	298.6	467.4	364.6 ± 42.4
pH***	E	22	7.3	8.5	8.1 ± 0.3
	H	22	6.5	7.6	6.9 ± 0.2
DO (mg/L)***	E	22	4.67	18.62	9.74 ± 3.20
	H	22	0.25	5.89	1.14 ± 1.38
Temperature (°C)***	E	22	18.10	27.79	24.28 ± 2.77
	H	22	14.12	24.96	20.87 ± 3.25
NO3-N** (mg/L)	E	22	0.10	0.50	0.27 ± 0.11
	H	22	0.10	2.30	0.58 ± 0.52
NH3-N (mg/L)***	E	22	<0.01	0.66	0.13 ± 0.16
	H	22	0.03	3.80	0.66 ± 0.88
TN (mg/L)*	E	22	0.3	1.6	1.0 ± 0.4
	H	22	0.6	4.6	1.7 ± 1.2
SRP ^+ (mg/L)	E	22	<0.01	0.07	0.03 ± 0.02
	H	22	<0.01	0.14	0.05 ± 0.04
TP (mg/L)***	E	22	0.07	0.16	0.12 ± 0.02
	H	22	0.11	0.71	0.27 ± 0.20
SD (m)	—	22	0.70	0.95	0.85 ± 0.06
Chlorophyll a (μg/L)	EU ^++	22	10.74	31.03	17.70 ± 6.48

Figure 2 Thermal regime at Prairie Creek Reservoir in 2007.

Figure 3 Temperature gradient and anoxic conditions at the reservoir in 2007.

Figure 4 Time series graph for a) alkalinity, b) nitrates c) ammonia-N, d) total nitrogen, e) soluble reactive phosphorus, f) total phosphorus, g) chlorophyll a, and h) chlorophyll a vs. Secchi disk. Symbols in graphs a) through f) represent: ◯ Center epilimnion, Δ North epilimnion. • Center hypolimnion, ▴ North hypolimnion; in graph g) • represents Center and ▴ North location.

Figure 5 Vertical and temporal variability of dissolved oxygen concentrations at Prairie Creek Reservoir in 2007.

Table 2 Historical changes in trophic levels at Prairie Creek Reservoir.

	1996 †	2002 *	2007
TSI (TN) ^+	53	54	56
TSI (TP) ^††	59	68	73
TSI (SD) ^††	50	65	62
TSI (Chlor a) ^††	44	61	58

Figure 6 TSI deviation plot for Prairie Creek Reservoir in 2007. Data for 2002 are from Jones and Medrano (2002).

Table 3 Comparison of Prairie Creek Reservoir 2007 data to other Indiana lakes and reservoirs in Ecoregion 55 and the reference values.

	Ecoregion 55 † (N = 36)	Reference	Reference	Prairie Creek Reservoir ^††
Parameters	Median/Mean	conditions *	conditions ^+	Median/Mean
Water column oxic (%)	52 / 57 (13–100)	—	—	81
Secchi Disk (m)	0.9 / 1.4 (0.3–6.2)	0.87	1.36	0.85/0.84
Nitrate (mg/L)	0.022 / 0.589 (0.013-3.853)	0.257**	—	0.30/0.32
Ammonia (mg/L)	0.018 / 0.04 (0.013–0.163)	—	—	0.10/0.156
TP (mg/L)	0.067 / 0.077 (0.012–0.246)	0.035	0.0375	0.123/.117
TN (mg/L)	1.450 / 1.797 (0.437–4.643)	0.782	0.781	1.25/1.08
Chlorophyll a (μg/L)	6.69 / 17.0 (0.18–135.7)	5.27	8.59	13.38/15.95

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