Lake 260

Lake 260 has been the site of two of our most well-known experiments over the last 20 years.

Starting in 2001, synthetic estrogen (EE2), which is commonly found in birth control pills, was added to the surface waters of Lake 260 to explore its impact on the overall health of the lake. The results of this study have been widely cited by the European Union regulators, who list EE2 as a chemical of concern, and British Columbia, in its water quality guidelines for EE2.

Starting in 2018, Lake 260 became the site of a series of small-enclosure studies exploring what happens when oil spills into freshwater systems from pipelines. The BOREAL project examined what happens when diluted bitumen is spilled in a freshwater system, and the Forest and FLOWTER projects examined how best to clean up oil spills.