BC lake · 4 km² · Cariboo River watershed

Spanish Lake

Its median summer total phosphorus over 2012–2015 was 3.7 µg/L, from 14 readings. Lower than 84% of the 95 BC lakes with enough recent readings (lower is clearer).

The readings

18 summer readings from open water on record from 2012 to 2015, at 2 sampling sites.

	Median since 2012	Compared with BC lakes
Total phosphorus	3.7 µg/L 2012–2015, 14 readings	Lower than 84% of the 95 BC lakes with enough recent readings (lower is clearer).
Chlorophyll a	Too few readings to judge 4 readings since 2012, in 2 years	Too few readings to compare (4 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

Reads as oligotrophic (few nutrients, little algae, usually clear).

	Index	Class
From total phosphorus (3.7 µg/L, 2012–2015)	23	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): chlorophyll a (4 readings since 2012, in 2 years).

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	Total phosphorus	Chlorophyll a
2015	2.0 µg/L (3)	0.6 µg/L (3)
2014	6.7 µg/L (2)	–
2013	5.8 µg/L (5)	–
2012	7.0 µg/L (4)	0.5 µg/L (1)

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

Where it was sampled

0803043 At centre 16 readings
0803042 At west end 2 readings

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 the water receiving its discharge, 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.