Owhi Lake, Okanogan County, Washington

• T31N R31E Sec. 3A

• T31N R31E Sec. 27, 34

• Elevation 2566 ft msl (782.1 m msl)

• Surface area 499.7 acres (202.2 ha)

• Volume 21,500 acre-feet (26, 509,500 m3)

• Maximum depth 77 ft. (23.5 m)

• Watershed -- Nespelem

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Owhi Lake is 5.5 miles northeast of Nespelem in the Nespelem watershed. The upper portion of the pear-shaped lake basin is surrounded by ponderosa pine forest and flatter, grassland and sagebrush terrain on the south. Much of the surrounding land is grazed. The lake bottom is gravel, clay, and muck. Ceratophyllum demersum L. and Myriophyllum exalbescens were the most common macrophytes in the lake. A great portion of the littoral zone of the lake still is not colonized by macrophytes. This is probably due to the frequent algal blooms which tend to shade out the macrophytes. Owhi Lake is fed by an unnamed tributary from the north arising in Little Owhi Lake, and by Owhi Creek, a small intermittent stream entering from the northeast. The lake is drained via the Little Nespelem River.

Owhi lake has a history of nuisance blue-green algal bloom. Such blooms are considered indicative of productive (eutrophic) conditions

Taking a secchi disk reading at Owhi Lake during an algal bloom (1989)