Welcome to the Florida LAKEWATCH Data Hub — your one-stop resource for accessing, exploring, and understanding water quality data collected through one of the nation’s longest-running volunteer-based monitoring programs.
Whether you’re a LAKEWATCH volunteer, researcher, student, water resource manager, or community advocate, this page will help you get the most out of LAKEWATCH’s rich dataset and supporting tools.
A: Use the Dashboard or browse the Report Archive. Still unsure? Email us at lakewatch@ufl.edu.
A: Yes! Just be sure to cite us properly and acknowledge the role of volunteers. See our Citation Instructions. And please send us a copy of any products using our data – our volunteers love to learn about the research they contribute to (fl-lakewatch@ufl.edu).
A: That’s fine— either use the filtering tools in the Data Dashboard, or submit a Data Request and specify the parameters you need.
A: LAKEWATCH data has been validated through QA/QC studies and used in many peer-reviewed research efforts. Reliability of volunteer-collected data has been assessed and determined to be research-quality through a series of studies.
A: Check the dashboard to see how up to date the data is. If the last sample was taken more that 6 months ago reach out to the coordinator for your county here.
A: Uncorrected chlorophyll α is the raw measurement of chlorophyll concentration, which may include interference from other pigments, such as pheophytin, which is a degradation product of chlorophyll.
While uncorrected chlorophyll α remains a valid measure, especially for comparison between waterbodies, it may overestimate the actual chlorophyll α (and thus primary productivity) in a sample. Therefore, LAKEWATCH began correcting for pheophytin and these other pigments and providing both corrected and uncorrected chlorophyll α values.
To provide both of these measurements our lab technicians first measure uncorrected chlorophyll α on a spectrophotometer. They then acidify the sample, which converts all of the chlorophyll α to pheophytin, and measure again on the spectrophotometer. The difference between the two measurements is corrected chlorophyll α.
A: If you sample within certain counties (i.e., Hillsborough, Lake, Manatee, Orange, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole) your data may be found on Wateratlas.org. All other data can be access through our new LAKEWATCH dahsboard!
A: Florida LAKEWATCH is publicly funded by the state and thus our data and reports are publicly available to all. You can also feel free to share this information with your neighbors, local administrators, and anyone else who is interested!
A: At least quarterly! Sometimes sooner. Keep in mind data from a sample can take up to 6 month to be reflected in our data, so please be patient. If you think there is data missing, please reach out or submit a data request form.
A:
There are currently no statewide criteria for stormwater ponds in Florida, but there are some best management practices and certain municipalities have criteria. Contact your local officials for more information.
It’s also important to note that the primary purpose of stormwater ponds is flood prevention and reduction of nutrients flowing into natural waterbodies. That means that many stormwater ponds were designed to capture nutrients and may therefore have higher nutrients (and biological productivity) than nearby natural waterbodies.
Here are some additional resources if you are interested in learning more about stormwater pond best management practices:
A: Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) is the regulatory agency tasked with identifying and restoring impaired waterbodies. More information on FDEP’s process can be found on their Impaired Waters Listing Process site.
Data from Florida LAKEWATCH may be used by DEP as screening information, but our data are not used for determining impairment. Additonally, an important distinction between our calculations and FDEP’s is that we look at the entire time series of data, while DEP looks exclusively at the past three years of data.
A: Great observation! In your report, we have taken the geometric mean of the three sites on your lake for the entire year and show you the average as well as the variation in the data with error bars. In the dashboard, we are displaying all of the raw data for all sites and all months. Feel free to download your data from the dashboard and look at the trends using your own methods too!
A: Most waterbodies in the LAKEWATCH program have 3 open water sites, situated in the largest open water areas of the waterbody, that are sampled monthly. These three sites are chosen when the waterbody first enters the program and then are maintained for continuity in trend analysis – we want to know if observed changes are because of actual changes within the system, not because sampling is happening at different locations.
Choosing sites in open water, rather than near the shoreline, allows us to get the most accurate representation of the waterbody as whole. Choosing three sites allows us to measure some of the variability within a waterbody and also to get an average value each month.
Three sites is plenty for most waterbodies in the program, though some larger or more complex systems have added sites over time (while always maintaining the original three as well). Additional sites can be considered on a case-by-case basis and must be approved by the director before being collected and analyzed. The cost of analysis is an important part of our consideration, and funding may be required to add additional sites on your waterbody.
A: To determine the trophic state of your lake, refer to our Trophic State Pamphlet. On page 3 of the pamphlet you will find the criteria for each trophic state based on total phosphorus, total nitrogen, chlorophyl α, and Secchi depth. Your values may fall into several different trophic states, making it more difficult to classify. At LAKEWATCH we typically refer to the chlorophyll α values for classification in these cases.
A: If you have five or more years of data on your waterbody then you will have graphs at the end of your report on total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), chlorophyll α, and Secchi depth. They can all be read and interpreted as outlined below:
A: This is hard to answer without looking at each lake on a case-by-case basis. Thus, we encourage you to reach out to regional coordinator to discuss.
In general, many things can cause changes in water quality. For example, seasonality, which is largely tied to rainfall with a wet season in the summer months and a dry season in the winter months, can alter the chemistry of our lake and rivers. More specifically, during the wet season more nutrients can be washed into the lake, raising total phosphorus and nitrogen levels. Conversely, in the dry season, your lake may have deeper Secchi readings due to lower nutrients. Rainfall can also affect annual fluctuations, with wet years having higher nutrients and dry years having lower nutrients.
