Crooked Lake Texas - Lake Quality Information

The quality of our beautiful lake water is important to all of us. Lake resident Linda Stafford has graciously volunteered her time to attend lake monitoring training courses and conduct monthly testing of our lake water. The following is a report of her monitoring activities.

The month of April is the beginning of the lake water quality testing each year. The testing continues through October. There will be four tests performed at scheduled times. The tests are: Secchi Disk Transparency, (water clarity); Dissolved Oxygen and Temperature, (essential for fish); Phosphorus, (measuring the nutrient that promotes algae growth); and Chlorophyll, (determines the amount of algae in the lake). Detailed information about lake classifications, lake monitoring and test results over the years for participating lakes can be found on the Michigan Clean Water Corps web site. Follow the link to Lake Monitoring and then Annual Reports.

The results of our sampling efforts over the last few years, compared with samples taken in 2003 are shown below:

In addition to the above mentioned tests, Linda also conducted two voluntary tests: Zebra Mussels, (an invasive aquatic animal), and Harmful Algae. As of this writing we do not have the data from these tests.

More information about these testing results and what they mean will be provided at the CLTA Annual Meeting in May of each year.

Anyone with questions, or a willingness to assist Linda with the water quality testing projects, may contact her at 372-1722.

What You Can Do To Protect Our Lake Water

Here are just few things all lake residents can do to protect the quality of our lake waters:

• Do not burn leaves on the shore. This adds phosphorus into the lake.
• Do not use fertilizers on your lawn that contain phosporus. The best recommendation is to not use any fertilizers and weed killers that can leach into our lake waters.
• If your residence has not yet been hooked up to the city sewer you are not allowed to have your septic pumped out - you must connect to the city sewer.
• To help protect our lake from zebra mussels, if you have taken your watercraft to another lake, make sure you inspect and remove aquatic plants, animals, and mud from your boat, trailer and equipment before you put your watercraft back into Crooked Lake. Drain all water from your equipment (boat, motor, bilges, transom wells, live wells, etc.) Rinse your boat and equipment with a high pressure washer, particularily if moored for more than one day, OR dry your boat and equipment thoroughly in the sun for five days. If you have a friend or relative who plans to launch a watercraft in our lake be sure to remind them of these precautionary steps.
• If you have a dog, PLEASE clean up their poop, even from the sides of the roads. We have numerous drains along our lake roads that drain directly into the lake. Rainwater or snow melt carries the bacteria from the dog waste into our lake.

Our thanks, once again, to Linda and Dave Stafford for taking the time to sample our lake throughout the year and submitting the samples for testing. We hope all lake residents will do their part in maintaining quality lake water.