Lake Water Quality – Soil Erosion

The nature of the eroded soils from the lake watershed results in water clarity being limited to about one foot of depth from the surface in the upper areas of the lake, the Sugar and Lick Creek arms of the lake west of the I-55 bridge. Clarity improves to about four feet near Spaulding Dam. These upper areas have also acted as sediment basins. Although they hold only about 10 percent of the volume of lake water, these areas retain approximately 50% of the sediment that enters the reservoir.

To read about other lake water quality issues, select one of the links below.