Water Quality Committee Report

Spring 2010

Annual Lake Water Test Results

The water quality committee has organized the annual testing of nutrient levels (as indicated by the concentration of phosphorous) through the Lake Partnership Program sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Environment. The testing is free, and since so many other lake organizations, the results allow comparisons with hundreds of other lakes. Phosphorus gets into the water mainly from agricultural runoff and from household use of detergents (phosphates) that find their way into the water through septic system leaking and water treatment plant outflow. The table below presents the two samples each year from the middle of Golden Lake and are expressed as total phosphorus (TP) in micrograms per litre.

Test Date	TP Sample#1	TP Sample#2
May 28, 2003	8.2	9.6
August 14, 2004	8.7	9.2
May 25, 2008	8.3	8.6
May 06, 2009	9.2	8.0

A level of less than 10 µg/L is considered a low nutrient count. You can see the results for many Ontario lakes at the Lake Partnership web site and will notice that Golden Lake’s results are at the low end of the average phosphorus concentrations.

Special Brennans Creek Test Program

Although water quality in the Lake is fine, there have been questions since GLPOA was formed about the algae blooms at the mouth of Brennans Creek at the west end of Golden Lake. Also mentioned are sludge deposits along the sandy shore at Harrington Road, which is close to the mouth of Brennans. Attention has focused on the Killaloe sewage treatment plant, which discharges into Brennans about one kilometre upstream of the mouth and which, according to the plant’s own reports, releases an average of 0.06 kilograms (about two ounces) of phosphorous each day into the Creek.

To investigate those concerns the water quality committee plans an intensive series of tests in Brennans Creek this summer. Two water samples will be taken, one upstream and one downstream of the treatment plant, to determine two things: first, the phosphorous concentration in the Creek compared to the Lake, and second, to see how much the plant discharge affects total phosphorous concentration. Two water samples will be taken and tested in each of the four months of the summer. The results should give us a good profile of phosphorous concentrations in Brennans Creek under various dilution conditions, and hopefully provide insights into the impact on water quality of the Killaloe sewage treatment plant.

You will find the results of this test program posted here as they become available.