Two Ministry of Environment employees were on Williams Lake bright and early Wednesday, April 17, taking water samples.
“We try to get a snap shot of how things change over time,” said Mike Sokal as they arrived back at the Scout Island boat launch.
He said they sample lakes twice a year across the province.
“Everything below the fish is what we are after.”
Sokal and his coworker Dan St. Hilaire sampled Chimney Lake on Tuesday while driving up from Penticton. They were planning to go to Horse Lake, east of 100 Mile House next, but will have to return next week due to it still being frozen.
Sampling takes about an hour per lake, Sokal said.
The provincial lake monitoring program involves 61 lakees and 82 sites sampled each year to determine current water quality conditions and to undertand long-term trends.
Sokal said he has been sampling Williams Lake since 2016 and is looking forward to 2026 when he will have 10 years of data to compare.
Williams Lake is classified as a eutrophic lake. In general eutrophic lakes have high nutrient levels making them very productive which is indicated by the large plant and algal communities in the lakes.
READ MORE: Ministry answers questions on health of the lake in Williams Lake
READ MORE: Williams Lake council votes to keep lake harvester program afloat
Don’t miss out on reading the latest local, provincial and national news offered at the Williams Lake Tribune. Sign up for our free newsletter here.