Weekly Water Watch
Weekly Water Watch is IEC’s summer newsletter that provides weekly updates on Iowa E. coli and microcystin beach advisories, important water quality news, and water-related events across the state.
Weekly Water Watch started in 2018 to increase awareness of Iowa’s recreational lake water quality and make monitoring data more accessible and easy to understand.
Learn more about beach monitoring.
Notable Statistics from Summer 2020
- Total number of E. coli advisories = 112
- Total number of microcystin advisories = 12
- George Wyth Beach experienced its first recorded advisory for microcystin since data collection began in 2006.
- Of 38 DNR-monitored beaches, 20 beaches recorded swim advisories in 2020. 18 beaches did not record an advisory.
- Backbone Beach was under advisory for E. coli for 14 weeks out of 16 weeks total in 2020.
- E. coli advisories were up 87% from 2019.
- Lake Macbride and Prairie Rose Lake were inaccessible for the last three weeks of water quality monitoring due to damage from the derecho.
- The summer of 2020 was very dry. Western Iowa was especially hard hit by drought. It was the driest July since 2013, and August was the third driest on record.
Read Past Weekly Water Watch Issues
2020
| September 4, 2020 | August 7, 2020 | July 10, 2020 | June 12, 2020 |
| August 28, 2020 | July 31, 2020 | July 3, 2020 | June 5, 2020 |
| August 21, 2020 | July 24, 2020 | June 26, 2020 | May 29, 2020 |
| August 14, 2020 | July 17, 2020 | June 19, 2020 | May 22, 2020 |
2019
Notable Statistics from Summer 2019
- Total number of E. coli advisories = 60
- Total number of microcystin advisories = 21
- Honey Creek Resort Beach, Lake MacBride, and North Twin Lake East Beach experienced their first recorded advisories for microcystin in 2019 since data collection began in 2006.
- Of 37 weekly monitored beaches, 20 beaches recorded swim advisories in 2019. 17 beaches did not record an advisory.
- Backbone Beach was under advisory for E. coli for the first 13 weeks out of 15 weeks total in 2019.
- McIntosh Woods Beach at Clear Lake was under advisory for E. coli the last 9 weeks of the summer out of 15 weeks total in 2019.
- If Iowa had adopted the EPA’s recommended advisory threshold for microcystin, which is 8 micrograms/L, an additional 14 advisories would have been issued for microcystin in 2019.