water quality

Iowa Lakeside Laboratory Regents Resouce Center monitors water quality in the Iowa Great Lakes. In its partnership with the State Hygenic Lab, we provide water testing services, and educate citizens on how to better care for our natural lakes. The Friends of Lakeside Lab is our valued partner in all these activities. Read our brochure.

The Cooperative Lakes Area Monitoring Project (CLAMP) is a volunteer lake monitoring program started in 1999 by Iowa Lakeside Lab and Friends of Lakeside Lab. Volunteers collect water samples throughout the summer on nine lakes in Dickinson County, Iowa. The goal of CLAMP is to provide long term monitoring data for algae conditions and educate local citizens about lake ecology.

In 2015, Iowa Lakeside Lab joined the Global Lakes Ecological Observation Network (GLEON) with the installation of a scientific research buoy on Lake West Okoboji. The buoy links data from West Okoboji with lakes around the world, providing benefits to both the global scientific and Okoboji communities by continuously monitoring water quality and weather data in 10-minute intervals. To access these data (available from April 1st to October 1st) download the wqdata app, open the menu, and click on the West Okoboji tab.