Research results - OPAL Water

How healthy are our lakes and ponds?

As part of the OPAL Water Centre and Aquatic Biomonitoring projects, we are monitoring the health of nine lakes and ponds across England until the end of 2012. We want to learn more about the water quality, how this is changing, and how the plants and animals that live in the water are being affected.

We are collecting physical, biological and chemical data at three-month intervals so we can observe how our findings change over time. We'll post our results regularly on this page. As the project develops we'll also share any conclusions we are able to reach from our data.

The findings from this project will be used to help in the conservation of these and other ponds and lakes across England. 

OPAL Water research news

June 2010 - Year 2 datasheets updated and first Year 3 datasheets also available. Thoresby lake was drained in January 2010, so site can not be accessed until July. What happens to the water chemistry when a big lake is refilled? We hope to find out.