Water quality of Lake Austin and Town Lake, Austin, Texas
Lake Austin and Town Lake are impoundments on the Colorado River in Travis County, central Texas, and are a source of water for municipal industrial water supplies, electrical-power generation, and recreation for more than 500,000 people in the Austin metropolitan area. Small vertical temperature variations in both lakes were attributed to shallow depths in the lakes and short retention times of water in the lakes during the summer months. The largest areal variations in dissolved oxygen generally occur in Lake Austin during the summer as a result of releases of water from below the thermocline in Lake Travis. Except for iron, manganese, and mercury, dissolved concentrations of trace elements in water collected from Lake Austin and Town Lake did not exceed the primary or secondary drinking water standards set by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Little or no effect of stormwater runoff on temperature, dissolved oxygen, or minor elements could be detected in either Lake Austin or Town Lake. Little seasonal or areal variation was noted in nitrogen concentrations in Lake Austin or Town lake. Total phosphorus concentrations generally were small in both lakes. Increased concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus were detected after storm runoff inflow in Town Lake, but not in Lake Austin; densities of fecal-coliform bacteria increased in Lake Austin and Town Lake, but were substantially greater in Town Lake than in Lake Austin. 18 refs., 38 figs., 59 tabs.
- OSTI ID:
- 5872686
- Resource Relation:
- Related Information: USGS Water-Resources Investigations Report 88-4233
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Before-and-after studies on the effects of a power-plant installation on Lake Lyndon B. Johnson: literature evaluation. Progress report No. 1 to the Lower Colorado River Authority, Austin, Texas
Water-quality of Lake Conroe on the West Fork San Jacinto River, southeastern Texas
Related Subjects
LAKES
WATER QUALITY
TEXAS
WATER POLLUTION
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
IRON
MANGANESE
MERCURY
MONITORING
NITRATES
PHOSPHORUS
RUNOFF
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FEDERAL REGION VI
MASS TRANSFER
METALS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NONMETALS
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
SURFACE WATERS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
USA
540320* - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)