PlaceDossier / BC places / Lakes
BC lake · 272 km² · Quesnel River watershed
Quesnel Lake
Its median summer total phosphorus over 2014–2026 was 2.8 µg/L, from 672 readings. Lower than 94% of the 100 BC lakes with enough recent readings (lower is clearer).
The readings
856 summer readings from open water on record from 1985 to 2026, at 41 sampling sites.
| Median since 2012 | Compared with BC lakes | |
|---|---|---|
| Secchi depth | Too few readings to judge 20 readings since 2012, in 1 year | Too few readings to compare (20 readings since 2012, in 1 year). |
| Total phosphorus | 2.8 µg/L 2014–2026, 672 readings | Lower than 94% of the 100 BC lakes with enough recent readings (lower is clearer). |
| Chlorophyll a | 0.7 µg/L 2015–2021, 64 readings | Lower than 93% of the 83 BC lakes with enough recent readings (lower is clearer). |
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
Reads as oligotrophic (few nutrients, little algae, usually clear).
| Index | Class | |
|---|---|---|
| From total phosphorus (2.8 µg/L, 2014–2026) | 19 | oligotrophic |
| From chlorophyll a (0.7 µg/L, 2015–2021) | 26 | oligotrophic |
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): secchi depth (20 readings since 2012, in 1 year).
Inferred by us, not a provincial classification. The index was built for summer readings from the middle of a lake; ours mix sites and months, so treat the class as a rough guide.
How we worked this out
Carlson's trophic state index (Carlson 1977, Limnology and Oceanography 22:361) turns each median into a score: 60 − 14.41 ln(Secchi m), 14.42 ln(phosphorus µg/L) + 4.15, 9.81 ln(chlorophyll µg/L) + 30.6. Classes after Carlson and Simpson (1996): under 40 oligotrophic, 40 to 50 mesotrophic, 50 to 70 eutrophic, 70 and over hypereutrophic.
Year by year
| Year | Secchi depth | Total phosphorus | Chlorophyll a |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | – | 2.8 µg/L (43) | – |
| 2025 | – | 2.4 µg/L (76) | – |
| 2024 | – | 2.3 µg/L (47) | – |
| 2023 | – | 2.6 µg/L (15) | – |
| 2022 | – | 2.3 µg/L (25) | – |
| 2021 | – | 2.0 µg/L (42) | 0.8 µg/L (22) |
| 2020 | – | 4.2 µg/L (60) | 1.0 µg/L (7) |
| 2019 | – | 4.4 µg/L (41) | – |
| 2018 | – | 4.3 µg/L (56) | 1.0 µg/L (4) |
| 2017 | – | 2.3 µg/L (61) | 0.7 µg/L (7) |
| 2016 | – | 3.2 µg/L (87) | 0.9 µg/L (4) |
| 2015 | – | 2.2 µg/L (58) | 0.2 µg/L (20) |
| 2014 | 5.5 m (20) | 42 µg/L (61) | – |
| 2006 | – | 3.5 µg/L (34) | – |
| 2005 | – | 3.0 µg/L (52) | – |
| 2004 | – | 2.0 µg/L (12) | – |
| 1985 | – | 6.0 µg/L (2) | – |
Median of each year's May to October readings; the number of readings is in brackets.
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.
Where it was sampled
- E304876 QUL-58 170 readings
- E303020 QUL-2A 88 readings
- E303019 QUL-18 87 readings
- E303022 QUL-120A 69 readings
- E300573 Near Hazeltine Creek - deep station 49 readings
- E304875 QUL-59 45 readings
- E304874 QUL-57 41 readings
- E299023 At Se Corner of Mitchell bay 35 readings
- E299025 At Cariboo Island Shelf 25 readings
- E303017 QUL-55 20 readings
- E299015 Near Cedar Point 19 readings
- E256574 N-A 17 readings
- E300580 Mid-lake south of Cedar Point 17 readings
- E303021 QUL-40A 14 readings
- E256576 N-C1 13 readings
- E256577 N-C2 13 readings
- E256582 N-E1 13 readings
- E256575 N-B 12 readings
- E301411 West basin mid-lake on Shelf 12 readings
- E256586 N-G 10 readings
And 21 more sites.
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.