Is Upper Klamath Lake polluted?
No, Upper Klamath Lake is not polluted in the traditional sense of the word. Upper Klamath Lake is an extraordinary natural environment. However, because the amount of plant matter in the lake is above the limit established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the agency has listed the lake as “water quality impaired”. The lake is out of compliance with cool-water lake criteria for pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration, and chlorophyll-A (Monda and Saiki, 1993). These parameters are closely tied to the lake’s tremendous productivity and are indicative of nutrient-rich conditions that are responsible for the growth of this unique species of the cool-water algae, Aph. flos-aquae (Gearheart et al., 1995; Bortleson and Fretwell, 1993; Kann and Smith, 1993; Miller and Tash, 1967). Repeated testing has revealed no toxic pollutants such as heavy metals or pesticides in Upper Klamath Lake water or in the lake bed. As partial evidence of this freedom from contamination, it is
