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Switch flushing and
phosphorus
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The Water budget
identifies the most important sources for water in a lake and how mach water
is gained or lost through each of those sources. It tells us how much water
flows through a lake every year.
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For our report, the water
budget has two major applications. It is used in the Phosphorus model to
estimate phosphorus concentrations in the lake. I will explain this more
later.
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Second, the water budget
calculates the flushing rate. This important rate tell us how many times the
water in the lake is replaced per year. The flushing rate has implications
for water quality and for remediation.
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The flushing rate has
important implications on water quality. Lakes with high flushing rates
cycle nutrients through the system faster. Their water quality also tends to
be dependent on runoff and surface water quality rather than ground water
quality. A high flushing rate means that the lake will probably respond
faster to remediation techniques.
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