OKLAHOMA CITY – When I was a “cub” reporter several decades ago, a wise editor gave me this advice: “Don’t believe what you hear and only half of what you see.” He didn’t mean that to be taken literally, but urged me to be judiciously cautious and maintain a healthy skepticism.
That gem of advice came to mind earlier this month when a “news” release from Lake.com, which provides information about properties available for vacations and other bookings, listed the 10 “dirtiest” lakes in the U.S. and the 10 “cleanest” lakes in the nation.
Oklahoma had three of the nation’s “dirtiest” lakes, and all three are in southwest Oklahoma: Lawton’s Lake Ellsworth; Lake Waurika, one of three sources of Lawton’s drinking water; and Dave Boyer Lake owned by the City of Walters.
In contrast, Lake.com claimed Florida has six of the 10 “cleanest” lakes in the country.
The “news” release was based on a study the National Water Quality Monitoring Council purportedly performed on 276 lakes in the United States. A lake’s water cleanliness was measured according to its dissolved phosphorus, sulfate, total dissolved solids, turbidity (thick or opaque with sediment), and pH (alkalinity, salinity).
This “press release” is shoddy, at best, and here are just a few reasons why I write that.
• A quick scan through two or three sources showed that 36 states – I didn’t bother checking on all 50 because I was getting writer’s cramp – report having 3,643,544 “lakes.”
Alaska is the nation’s leading state in this category, with 3,197 named natural lakes and three million unnamed natural lakes.
Neighboring Kansas claims to have 120,000 lakes, reservoirs and ponds – which, according to one reviewer, “range in size from expansive reservoirs to puddles.” Some states listed any body of water larger than five surface acres, while others listed reservoirs of at least 10 or more acres.
One report listed Oklahoma as having 62 lakes, but the Oklahoma Water Resources Board counts 145 lakes across the state and names every one of them. If farm ponds were included, as Kansas did, Oklahoma’s number would swell by several hundred or perhaps thousands.
• Those 276 lakes supposedly analyzed by the National Water Quality Monitoring Council constituted 75 ten-thousandths of 1% of the 3.64 million “lakes” reported in the 36 states I mentioned previously.
• None of the three Oklahoma lakes cited in this “scientific” study is considered to be primarily a recreational reservoir.
The Cotton County lake, for example, has a surface area of approximately 120 acres and two miles of shoreline. Vacationing sun worshippers aren’t flocking to Walters to sunbathe, swim and water ski at Dave Boyer Lake.
Norman’s Lake Thunderbird was not included in the NWQMC study – yet Lake Thunderbird has a distinct moniker: Lake Dirtybird.
• Now let’s look at Florida, which reportedly has 30,000 lakes.
The NWQMC claims six of the 10 “cleanest” lakes in the U.S. are in the “Sunshine State.”
Just two years ago, the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project reported that 51% of the rivers and 55% of the lakes in the U.S. are considered impaired – which means they fall short of standards for fishing, swimming, aquatic life, and drinking.
The EIP report was based on data that the states themselves are required by the federal Clean Water Act to submit on pollution levels of their rivers, streams, lakes and estuaries.
Based on data reported by the State of Florida itself, Florida lakes were ranked worst in the nation in 2022. The EIP found that Florida ranked first in the nation for total acres (873,340) of lakes that were too polluted for swimming and aquatic life.
Nevertheless, according to the NWQMC, Florida has six of the 10 “cleanest” lakes in the U.S.
You betcha. And pigs fly, Elvis lives, and Neil Armstrong’s Moon walk in ’69 was faked.