Water Quality Testing

Water quality testing is done by the Environmental Health Section of the Thurston County Public Health and Social Services Department.  Testing is conducted monthly from May through October each year.  Test results take a year or more to be published.  The testing is primarily focused on collecting data to determine the health of the lake through a complicated set of test samples that determine the lakes eutrophic status. Initial testing to determine Lake Lawrence eutrophic status was done in a one-year study in 1989 by Kramer Chin & Mayo (KCM), Inc., Seattle, WA in association with Hart Crowser, Herrera Environmental Consultants, Water Environmental Services, Inc. Aquatic Research, Inc.  Their report was published in December 1991.  The results of that study determined Lake Lawrence was Eutrophic.  There are three trophic states for lakes: 1) Oligotrophic; 2) Mesotrophic; and 3) Eutrophic.  Wikipedia defines these three.  Click here to see those definitions:  Trophic state index - Wikipedia .Additional testing was conducted in 1995 by Hartman Associates, Seattle, WA and in 2004 by Enviro Vision Corporation.  Thurston County Environmental Health as continued testing since 2009.  Data is currently available through 2023 and can be viewed at 2021 Lakes Report.pdf (amazonaws.com) .  Lake Lawrence data can be found on page 9 of this report.  General water quality data, definitions and other interesting facts can be viewed at: Water Quality | Thurston County (thurstoncountywa.gov)

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A spreadsheet of all currently available Lake Lawrence water quality testing & Toxic Algae blooms from 1990 through 2023 can be found by clicking HERE.  This data shows the continuous degradation of our water quality over the years.  We have secured a grant from Washington State Department of Ecology to have a contractor put together an Integrated Phosphorus Management Plan.  A Request for Proposal has been developed and submitted to the county.  This study will not be concluded until June 2025.  Once we obtain the results of that study we will work to implement the recommendations of that study and improve our water quality.  Money is the primary obstacle.  We have learned from Black Lake and Long Lake that It costs several hundreds of thousands of dollars to implement a successful program.  Our current budget will only stretch so far.  

 

In May 2023 your Lake Lawrence SC went out with the Environmental Health team that does this testing and shot a YouTube Video of how they collect the data.  That video can be viewed at:   https://youtu.be/uXQcB2fdt3E .