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UPDATE ON THE MARINA STUDY ON LAKE TEXOMA
Citation:
Sewell*, G W. AND M L. Cook*. UPDATE ON THE MARINA STUDY ON LAKE TEXOMA. Presented at Lake Texoma Association, Lake Texoma, 10/17/2000.
Description:
The National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) has instituted a program for Risk Management Research for Ecosystem Restoration in Watersheds. As part of this program a large scale project was initiated on Lake Texoma and the surrounding watershed to evaluate the assimilative capacity of the system to handle stressors coming into the lake. One of the obvious choices for stressors on this lake are the motorized boats and personal water craft that are used on this lake. These water craft potentially generate large amounts of hydrocarbon and metals inputs to the lake every year. Lake Texoma has several Marinas dotted across the lake and as a point of concentration for motorized water craft these areas are likely to exhibit stressor effects long before the rest of the lake. In order to evaluate the effects of these hydrocarbon and heavy metals discharges on the lake and its associated biota a study of 5 of the marinas was initiated. Regular sampling was initiated in these areas to evaluate the chemical and biological condition of the water, sediments and associated flora and fauna. Initial results of some of these tests show that concentrations of these hydrocarbons and heavy metals are elevated compared to other parts of the lake. Biological assessments are still in progress and have not demonstrated any trends to date. Presentation of data and a discussion of potential effects on the overall lake will be presented .