AN ONLINE PLATFORM FOR SHARING TRENDS IN LAKE WATER QUALITY TO THE PUBLIC

Through the efforts of citizen volunteers, staff, and partners, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has amassed more than 700,000 measurements of Secchi depth, total phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a on several thousand lakes. Patterns and trends in these key trophic status indicators are of great interest to citizens and lake managers, however visualizing and interpreting these results is time-consuming and requires some familiarity with statistics. We present an R Shiny data visualization tool (the Wisconsin Water Explorer; WEx) that automates data curation, conducts trend analyses, and gathers critical supplemental information such as watershed landcover. We use non-parametric seasonal Kendall trend tests and Theil-Sen slope estimates to characterize trends for any lake in the state with sufficient data. WEx delivers the trend estimates in a user-friendly format with appropriate context and can help quantify the success of watershed management activities and spur further action from stakeholders and managers.

Primary Presenter: Justin Chenevert, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (justin.chenevert@wisconsin.gov)

Authors:

Justin Chenevert, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (justin.chenevert@wisconsin.gov)

Catherine Hein, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (catherine.hein@wisconsin.gov)

Aaron Fisch, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (Aaron.Fisch@wisconsin.gov)