A classification of Arizona man-made lakes with applications to the prediction of water quality

Abstract

Twenty-three small to large man-made lakes in Arizona (13 to 909 hectares) were surveyed for 44 variables of lake morphometry, watershed topography and climate, conservative and non-conservative water quality, and lake sediments. Water and sediment collections were made in two 14-day sampling tours during the summer of 1976. R mode factor analysis technique reduced the original data set to 15 independent variables to be used in Q mode factor analysis and dendrograph lake classification. On the basis of the two clustering methods, six classes of lakes are indicated: 1) White Mountain, 2) Southern Arizona, 3) Salt River- Phoenix water supply, 4) Escudilla Mountain, 5) miscellaneous large irrigation, and 6) miscellaneous high altitude. Nine lakes are independent of all others. Predictions of water and sediment quality in Arizona lakes, based upon variables of lake morphometry, watershed topography and climate as selected by the R mode factor analysis technique, were performed using multiple regression analysis. The significant relationships found may be useful in the tentative prediction of water quality and fishery potential in unconstructed water bodies.