An empirical method of estimating the retention of phosphorus in lakes

The relationship between phosphorus retention and several other lake and watershed parameters was examined for 15 lakes. A model relating the areal water load ( q s ) to phosphorus retention was proposed: R p = 0.426 exp (−0.271 q s ) + 0.574 exp (−0.00949 q s ). This model was found to be theoretically sound, and the predicted and measured values were in close agreement ( r = 0.94).