BC lake · 5 km² · Lower Chilako River watershed

Norman Lake

Too few readings to judge this lake: 77 summer readings from open water between 1988 and 2021, and we need at least 10 summer readings from open water, spread over at least 3 different years, since 2012 before we summarise or compare it. The readings are below.

The readings

77 summer readings from open water on record from 1988 to 2021, at 3 sampling sites.

	Median since 2012	Compared with BC lakes
Total phosphorus	Too few readings to judge 14 readings since 2012, in 2 years	Too few readings to compare (14 readings since 2012, in 2 years).
Chlorophyll a	Too few readings to judge 13 readings since 2012, in 2 years	Too few readings to compare (13 readings since 2012, in 2 years).

Total phosphorus the nutrient that most often feeds algae in BC lakes

Chlorophyll a the green pigment in algae: a direct measure of how much is growing

Median each year (bigger dot, more readings)Middle half of BC lakesBC median

Source: BC Environmental Monitoring Data System (EnMoDS) results, Environmental Monitoring and Analysis Branch, Province of BC, records to September 19, 2026 (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); lake outlines and names: Freshwater Atlas lakes, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). Summaries by PlaceDossier.

Nutrient level Inferred

Unclear: too few readings to judge this lake's nutrient level.

Left out for too few recent readings (we need at least 10 summer readings from open water, spread over at least 3 different years, since 2012): total phosphorus (14 readings since 2012, in 2 years); chlorophyll a (13 readings since 2012, in 2 years).

Year by year

Year	Total phosphorus	Chlorophyll a
2021	19 µg/L (10)	10 µg/L (10)
2019	15 µg/L (4)	4.0 µg/L (3)
1997	24 µg/L (2)	–
1993	–	4.3 µg/L (10)
1992	21 µg/L (1)	–
1991	15 µg/L (13)	–
1990	15 µg/L (18)	6.4 µg/L (1)
1989	22 µg/L (3)	–
1988	30 µg/L (2)	–

Median of each year's May to October readings; the number of readings is in brackets.

Where it was sampled

E206654 Deep station 54 readings
E208851 West end station 22 readings
E227171 Littoral site 1 reading

Site names are tidied from the provincial records; the IDs find each site's full record there.

What this record doesn't cover

Algae bloom reports and invasive mussel checks aren't in this record: the province's Algae Watch map and mussel monitoring aren't published as open data. For swimming, check the regional health authority's beach advisories; for blooms and mussels, ask the province's regional environment office or the local lake association.

Readings are from the province's monitoring database: samples taken by provincial staff, volunteer lake monitors, and companies and local governments that sample under their permits. We keep the ice-free season (May to October), and for phosphorus and chlorophyll only samples from the top 5 m. We leave out sites whose names put them at a water intake, a sewage or industrial outfall, a mine or a permit holder's works, or on the shore (a beach, dock or boat launch): water there can differ a lot from the open lake. Each year's figure is the median of that year's readings. We give a lake a summary, a comparison with other lakes and a nutrient level only when it has at least 10 summer readings from open water, spread over at least 3 different years, since 2012; the summary is the median of those readings. With fewer, or only older ones, we show the readings and say there are too few to judge the lake. A reading below the lab's detection limit counts at that limit. One site can be a bay rather than the open lake, so a lake's figures can differ from one end to the other.

Water quality changes with the season, the weather and the part of the lake. These are past readings, not a test of the water today: before you buy, ask the local government and the lake association what's known, and test a drinking-water intake yourself.