Kalamazoo River Watershed Council Phosphorus Dashboard
INTRODUCTION
The Kalamazoo River Watershed Council surface water phosphorus dashboard is intended to display phosphorus data collected from within the watershed. It’s intended to present publicly available data in a way that is easy to digest and easy to explore. The data in this dashboard can come from multiple sources. Currently, data include all surface water samples available as of October 2021 in the Water Quality Portal (WQP), a combined database of the US Geological Survey and US Environmental Protection Agency. Because individual states also report data to the USEPA, the WQP serves as a leading source of easily accessible data from Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE).
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ABOUT THE DASHBOARD & HOW TO USE IT
There are several panels in the dashboard. When you open the dashboard, notice the map showing phosphorus concentrations with different shades of green corresponding to concentrations, with light green colors representing low concentrations and dark green representing the highest concentrations in the dataset. To scroll on the map, click on the side arrow icon in the left portion of the map and then click the pan symbol which has four arrows going in four different directions. Use the Location drop down menu box at the top center of the dashboard to view data from a single location. For example, to observe concentrations in Gull Lake, select Gull Lake from the dropdown menu, then zoom into the map to get a closer look at the individual sampling locations.
In the upper right portion of the dashboard, the average phosphorus concentration for all selected river and stream samples is shown separately from lake and reservoir samples, and further to the right under the location name panel the total number of samples collected for each location is shown. Or, use the Location Name panel in the upper right to view results for a single location. For example, hovering over the Kalamazoo River bar shows that 986 samples are in this dashboard, with an average phosphorus concentration of 0.0813 mg/L, or roughly 81 parts per billion. Clicking on the Kalamazoo River bar will update the map to show only the data for that location.
Also notice the charts at the bottom half of the dashboard. The first of these charts is a bar chart showing the number of samples in the dashboard collected in each year. This chart also updates to show a selected Location Name. For the Kalamazoo River, the chart reveals that the earliest results in the dashboard are from two samples collected in 1971. The final year of data shown is 2020.
The second chart at the bottom of the dashboard shows results for individual samples collected in each year for the selected location, with lower concentrations being shown in smaller and lighter colored symbols. The size and color of the symbol both reflect relative phosphorus concentrations. If no location is selected, the two bottom charts shows results for all locations combined.
To get back to the original view in the dashboard, go to the bottom of the dashboard and click the symbol showing an arrow pointing left to a straight vertical line. This resets the dashboard to its original view. If you have any questions or comments on this data dashboard, contact krwc@kalamazooriver.org. To find out more about the WQP, go to https://www.waterqualitydata.us/.