Changes in Conductivity, Alkalinity, Calcium, and pH During a 50-Year Period in Selected Northern Wisconsin Lakes

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Abstract
Between 1925 and 1941, E. A. Birge, C. Juday, and co-workers in Wisconsin made extensive water quality measurements on over 600 northern Wisconsin lakes, providing a benchmark against which comparisons can be made if the modern equivalent measurements can be determined. Of these, 149 lakes were sampled from 1979 to 1983. Data on conductivity, alkalinity, calcium, and hydrogen ion (pH) are available for these lakes from 1925 to 1931. The historical methyl orange alkalinity data were adjusted to be comparable to the recent Gran alkalinity data by subtracting 57 μmol/L from the historical measurements. The colorimetric historical pH measurements were adjusted to be comparable to recent potentiometric measurements by a regression model. No adjustments were made to the historical calcium or conductivity measurements. Comparisons of adjusted historical data with recent data show a significant increase in the means of all four variables. The largest increases in all four variables show an association with increases in land use development on the lake perimeters. Statistically significant changes in alkalinity are observed, with 28 lakes increasing and 11 decreasing, compared with 110 lakes showing no change. Possible explanations for chemical changes in those lakes that have experienced little change in land use are discussed. For the lakes in northern Wisconsin which may have been affected by airborne pollutants, it is likely that these effects had their beginning before initiation of the historical lake survey.

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