EUTROPHICATION OF EASTERN LAKE, SUNSET BEACH, NORTH CAROLINA

A recent fish kill in Eastern Lake, an impoundment in Sunset Beach, NC, prompted an investigation of water quality in this small lake. The lake is almost completely filled with aquatic vegetation including surface mats of blue-green algae. Dissolved oxygen concentrations were well above saturation levels at some surface locations and as low as 0 ppm at some bottom and subsurface locations. Nutrient concentrations indicated that phosphate inputs were likely to be responsible for the hypereutrophic condition of this shallow lake. Water quality in Eastern Lake was worse than that of any of the lakes surveyed by North Carolina's Ambient Lakes Monitoring program. Small lakes and ponds are particularly at risk to cultural eutrophication and are valuable as wildlife habitat, but are less well studied than larger lakes.