The Trophic State of Tellico Reservoir in 2020

The Watershed Association of Tellico Reservoir (WATeR) did a project to define the trophic status of Tellico Reservoir. Bodies of water are classified as to their productivity. Low productivity water is oligotrophic, whereas water with high productivity is eutrophic. WATeR’s evaluation will focus on Carlson’s Trophic State Index (TSI). Carlson’s TSI is a phytoplankton-based index, that uses Secchi Disk visibility, concentrations of chlorophyll a, phosphorus, or nitrogen to establish a numerical value of the trophic classification of a lake or reservoir (Carlson, 1997). While considerable variation was observed between the six sample locations, the average TSI score was 46, which would define the reservoir as Mesotrophic.

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