Water quality in Lake Kahola and adjacent domestic water wells.

Abstract

Lake Kahola, in Chase and Morris Counties, Kansas, is a small detention dam and reservoir built by the Work Projects Administration in the 1930's as an alternate water supply for Emporia, Kansas. Today the lake has the additional role of recreation for many residents of the region and is extensively developed for seasonal and year-round residency. Extensive development increases the prospect of septic-waste contamination in the lake. In order to investigate this possibility, a ten-month study of the lake's water quality was conducted to identify elevated levels of chloride and phosphate in the lake and nearby wells. Samples from undeveloped regional springs, streams, and Chase County State Lake were a background against which Lake Kahola and the wells were compared. Contamination of the numerous domestic water wells surrounding Lake Kahola is a possibility. Geologic structure at the lake presents the likelihood that at least some of the wells are being recharged by water from Lake Kahola. The results of the study indicate that, when compared to undeveloped areas, Lake Kahola has high-quality water. Test results from sampled wells at the lake reveal that the possibility of contamination cannot be ruled out. One of the background sample sites had consistently higher chloride concentrations than any of the other sites which may indicate contamination by human intervention.