Time series of high-frequency sensor data measuring water temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, specific conductance, total dissolved solids, chlorophyll a, phycocyanin, fluorescent dissolved organic matter, and turbidity at discrete depths, and water level in Beaverdam Reservoir, Virginia, USA in 2009-2025

We monitored water level and water quality in Beaverdam Reservoir (Vinton, Virginia, USA; 37.31288, -79.8159) with visual observations and high-frequency (10- to 15-minute resolution) sensors in 2009-2025. All variables were measured at the deepest site of the reservoir adjacent to the dam. Beaverdam Reservoir is owned and managed by the Western Virginia Water Authority as a secondary drinking water source for Roanoke, Virginia. This data package is comprised of three datasets: 1) bvre-waterlevel_2009_2025.csv, 2) bvre-sensorstring_2016_2020.csv, and 3) bvre-waterquality_2020_2025.csv. 1) bvre-waterlevel_2009_2025.csv contains water level observations of the staff gauge at a platform near the reservoir's dam by both the Western Virginia Water Authority and the Virginia Tech Reservoir Group LTREB field crew. This dataset spans 2009 to 2025, with data collection still ongoing. 2) bvre-sensorstring_2016_2020.csv consists of a water temperature profile at ~1-meter intervals from the surface of the reservoir to 10.5 m below the water, complemented by intermittent data collected by a dissolved oxygen logger deployed at 5 m or 10 m. A sonde measuring water temperature, conductivity, specific conductance, chlorophyll a, phycocyanin, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, fluorescent dissolved organic matter, and turbidity was additionally deployed at ~1.5 m depth. This dataset spans 2016 to 2020, with no additional data collection beyond the last observation. The third dataset is bvre-waterquality_2020_2025.csv, with data collection still ongoing and an accompanying maintenance log. This dataset contains: a) a temperature string with 13 temperature sensors deployed ~1 m apart from the surface to 0.5 m above the sediments of the reservoir; b) two dissolved oxygen sensors, one in the middle of the string and one sensor above the sediments; and c) a pressure sensor just above the sediments. The same sonde from the first 2016-2020 dataset is also included in this 2020-2025 dataset, still deployed at ~1.5 m below the surface. The sensors on the temperature string (thermistors, dissolved oxygen sensors, and pressure sensor) are permanently affixed to the platform and do not change with the water level. In the methods, we describe how to add a depth measurement to each observation. In 2025, the water level decreased by 4 meters as the Western Virginia Water Authority repaired the dam. Because of this construction, we had to move one of the dissolved oxygen sensors; more information can be found in the methods.