Wisconsin Surface Water Integrated Monitoring System (SWIMS) Department of Natural Resources lake nutrient data, 1970-2011

The Wisconsin Surface Water Integrated Monitoring System (SWIMS) program is the state´s repository for water and sediment monitoring data collected for Clean Water Act work and is the source of data sharing through the federal Water Quality Exchange Network. DNR Fisheries and Water Quality Biologists use the system to locate monitoring stations, providing a gateway to final, reviewed fisheries management datasets housed at the U.S. Geological Survey. SWIMS is also the data system that citizen volunteers use to document water monitoring results for our state´s lakes, streams and wetlands. Parameters typically collected on lakes are total phosphorus, chlorophyll a and Secchi. Through the DNR Long-Term Trend monitoring program, additional parameters such as Nitrogen have been collected. Lake data in SWIMS generally goes back to the 1970s (1970s data was imported in from the EPA STORET database, where DNR laboratory results went historically). The database is updated daily.