Wikipedia:WikiProject Lakes

This WikiProject Lakes aims to consolidate and unify pages relating to lakes, lochs, reservoirs, and similar inland bodies of water around the world. This page includes guidelines and a number of resources that can be used to achieve our goal. All editors are welcome to join this project; if you wish to participate, please add yourself to the list of participants below.

Title
WikiProject Lakes

Scope
This WikiProject aims primarily to describe the Earth's lakes, lochs, reservoirs, and similar inland bodies of water in a consistent and complete fashion and to add the template to each lake oriented article.

Guidelines
Please remember that these are only guidelines and may not apply in every situation. However, the template should be included on every lake oriented article. In addition, please add the project banner to the talk page of any lake articles that you may encounter (see templates below), allowing other editors to find this project and adding the talk page to Category:WikiProject Lakes.

Notability
To start, see WP:GNG and Notability (geographic features) most specifically the named natural features section: WP:GEOLAND.

New Page vs New Section
The guidelines to read first: WP:PAGEDECIDE.

Parentage
The parent of this project is WikiProject Geography.

Collaborations
Currently proposed & under consideration: Reservoir Task force with WikiProject Dams.

Related WikiProjects
Complementary projects:
 * WikiProject Dams
 * WikiProject Limnology and Oceanography
 * WikiProject Shipwrecks

Projects covering other geographical features:
 * WikiProject Deserts
 * WikiProject Glaciers
 * WikiProject Mountains
 * WikiProject Rivers
 * WikiProject Islands

Backlog Dashboard
Backlog progress overview

Lakes needing attention
(Please flag an article by adding attention=yes on the Wikiproject Lakes template as you come across them. This will add them to the . Leave a comment on the article talk page specifying the attention is needed. For articles under active development needing attention there is the table below as added visibility.)

Lakes needing immediate attention
Apply the attention parameter as stated above and add to the table below. The table below currently contains the legacy articles which were posted prior to converting to the table, but not all have comments which specify an actionable comment. Those without an actionable comment may be removed if how they need to be brought up-to-spec is not identifiable or will be switched to the attention=yes flag.

''A comment should be actionable and not just "expand" or "stub", but provide direction of why that article should be a priority over others. There are many articles that are stubs and need expansion generally.''

Cleanup listing
A range of tasks are available at Cleanup listing.

Complementary Geo Templates
WikiProject Articles specifically around bodies of water with geographic coordinate should also make sure that the talk page also includes the WikiProject for that geographic area if it is in the scope for the project. For example Lake Michigan's talk page should include all the WikiProject for the states bordering the lake (WikiProject Illinois, WikiProject Indiana, WikiProject Michigan, and Wikiproject Wisconsin). Dual tagging lakes and local region helps to provide visibility to the article for maintenance and development. Additionally this may encourage topical and local expertise in assessment the article importance and identification of locally or topically known resources.

You can view a PetScan configuration of current projects with just WikiProject Lakes and no regional WikiProject template. It is possible new region templates have been added or missed, please add them to the "Templates&links" tab at the end of the "Has none of these templates:" list and update the PSID for the link or post to the talk with the missing WikiProject templates for PetScan.

Adding Infoboxes
Lake articles in need of an infobox:

Adding photos
Find a photo with a compatible license or donate a photo you have taken and help with the backlog. Finding photo tutorial.

WikiProject Banner Flag
Articles where the WikiProject Lakes banner explicitly has been flagged needs-image=yes appear in

Infobox Body of Water Missing Images or Maps
The infoboxes can feature an image, this may include more than lakes, lochs, and static bodies of water without photos or pushpin maps. These are tracked via:

Linking with WikiData
WikiData helps track facts across languages and enables automatic import or suggestion of facts for inboxes. Help make a comprehensive lake database to link to articles and enable more maintenance tools to be developed.
 * Mix'n'match GNIS import USA lakes to WikiData
 * Mix'n'match GNIS import USA reservoirs to WikiData
 * Add additional applicable databases to Mix'n'match.

Accessibility Review
Help check that articles, tables, and infoboxes are configured for accessibility. The accessibility features benefit not only humans, but search engines and automation tools too.

Article Accessibility
See Manual of Style on Accessibility for article best practices and tips. See Alt text Manual of Style for specific guidelines.

Infobox Accessibility
The Body of Water Infoboxes should have a descriptive "Alt" tag for every Image or Map.
 * | alt -
 * | alt_bathymetry -
 * | pushpin_map_alt -

Lists and Tables Accessibility
Use of scope= in tables, and selection and use of colors can affect the ability to read a table. Wikipedia guidelines on list accessibility and guidelines on Table accessibility.

Articles with Lakes To Do list
Articles with with items to coordinate development and refinement: Category:Lakes articles with to-do lists

Assessment
Improve the article quality assessment by reviewing pages and setting priorities. The criteria for each is found on the Assessment page of WikiProject Lakes.

New articles for "waterbodies":
AlexNewArtBot/WaterbodiesSearchResult

Article WikiProject Lakes Watchlist
A shared WikiProject Lakes watchlist:
 * Manually curated - Top and High articles - Recent activity - view and edit the watchlist

Talk Watchlist by Category

 * Top importance Articles
 * High importance Articles
 * Mid importance Articles
 * Low importance Articles
 * NA importance Articles
 * ??? importance Articles

Talk Watchlist by Class

 * FA importance Articles
 * FL importance Articles
 * GA importance Articles
 * B importance Articles
 * C importance Articles
 * Start importance Articles
 * Stub importance Articles
 * List importance Articles
 * SIA importance Articles
 * Category importance Articles
 * Disambig importance Articles
 * File importance Articles
 * Project importance Articles
 * Redirect importance Articles
 * Template importance Articles
 * Other importance Articles
 * Unassessed importance Articles

Hot Articles
Frequently edited articles highlighted at WikiProject_Lake/Hot_articles.

Articles
All articles with the lake project talk page template are listed at:
 * WikiProject Lakes/Articles/all

Recognized Content
A bot curated list of WikiProject Lakes most recognized content.

Most popular
A bot curated list of WikiProject Lakes top 500 articles based on page views appearing at WikiProject_Lakes/Popular_pages.

Active Members
If you wish to participate, simply add your name below:

Everyone is welcome to join WikiProject Lakes, just edit this section and insert the Wikitext   to end of the following list of members. Display your membership by adding a Members Userbox on your user page.


 * - Well! Water bodies esp. lakes are one of most fascinating natural beauties, I have "Naltar lakes" (three water bodies near Gilgit) as my first article about lakes.
 * - lakes in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northwest Territories
 * Mehraj Mir
 * Darwinek - created many articles in the past. This new project is a good idea.
 * feydey 10:21, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
 * - in support of the local geography articles I do.
 * Dentren - will try add so many lakes in the southern cone as possible.
 * - Interested in Quebec lakes.
 * User:Marqqq- I've written a short article on South Twin Lake (Maine)
 * Karen Fasimpaur - adding photos of lakes across the U.S.
 * LeheckaG - Alaska, British Columbia, Washington State, Ohio, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, ... filling in Geo-coding, InfoBoxes, Reference-citations, Research, Templates, ...
 * Ratzer - research data of lakes and put/complete infoboxes
 * Razzmatazz143 - Interested in lakes, working on lakes found in the Philippines
 * The Bushranger - Florida lakes, primarily
 * Fanyavizuri
 * Fredlyfish4 - working on lakes of central Idaho and Sawtooth National Recreation Area
 * User:Mar4d - Interested in articles related to lakes of Pakistan
 * User:Traveler7 - Lakes in the United States
 * User:Wpollard - Have been writing articles about lakes in Kansas and Florida
 * User:triptropic - creating and adding to articles on Scottish lochs. Have access to historic bathymetric data
 * User:Kospo75 - Expanding and writing articles about lakes in Finland
 * Frank R 1981 - Into geography in general but very much into lakes of Peru.
 * - Working on Infoboxes, linking to OSM, WikiData completeness, Michigan Lakes
 * User:420Traveler - Working on lakes and adding infoboxes for New York lakes.
 * User:Ds2320
 * Jokulhlaup
 * Phoenix-Five - Lakes in Northwestern Michigan, especially Traverse City and Grand Traverse County.
 * User:Path slopu
 * Naveen N Kadalaveni (talk) -- Interested in Lakes in Bangalore
 * Uninspired Username - Into lakes, especially in Canada and British Columbia
 * User:CJK09 - North America, especially the western US, especially California, especially the Sierra Nevada
 * User:TheGraw - Mainly lakes in Montana and Wyoming
 * User:jaberges - Lakes of all types; I teach a University Limnology Class in which students prepare data reports on their "Favorite Lakes" and I plan to add a Wikipedia editing exercise to the course this year
 * A Rose Wolf  - Lakes in Alaska and Montana
 * Starkenborgher - canadian arctic
 * - Lakes in Rwanda
 * - Stub-level lakes in the US
 * - Lakes in Saskatchewan, Canada. I like creating new articles and bring stubs to at least starts.
 * Starkenborgher - canadian arctic
 * - Lakes in Rwanda
 * - Stub-level lakes in the US
 * - Lakes in Saskatchewan, Canada. I like creating new articles and bring stubs to at least starts.

Inactive Members
Members will be moved to this list after no activity is detected on your User contributions page for on EN Wikipedia in the previous 365 days. If you find your name on this list, feel free to move it back to the member list above.


 * Jaywm - most interested in reservoirs of the west, with a focus on Colorado, Wyoming, and Washington state.
 * Marletbadeo
 * AlexD42 - Central IL
 * Em3rald
 * Sango123 (honorary member for assistance to Em3rald)
 * Revmachine21 - limnically active Lakes Kivu, Nyos, Monoun have been my babies.
 * Lethargy - Talk - Currently working on Utah's three large natural lakes: Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, and Bear Lake.
 * - filled in some gaps in List of lakes in Alberta
 * - Working on Rainy Lake as well as other Boundary Waters lakes
 * &mdash;Working on Nordic lakes, rivers & canals interstitially with other geographic interests.
 * - currently trying to rebuild List of lakes in New Zealand (1000+)
 * 05:41, 13 January 2007 (UTC) - helping with Philippine Lakes
 * - mostly work on the Thuringowa city the Ross River (Queensland), Ross River Dam and the Paluma Dam pages.
 * - I know a thing or two about lake chargog
 * - I would love to edit anything related to lakes.
 * - Biologist with an interest in lakes, fish and also lake folklore.
 * - Will try to add/supplement info on some lakes around the NW
 * California Lakes
 * jaymzyates - Joe Pool lake
 * - Working on some of the Boundary Waters lakes
 * Southern Texas - I work on Lakes in Texas
 * -I fish a lot on local lakes
 * - Interested in Vermont Lakes and ecosystems
 * - Interested in Great Lakes of U.S. and Canada
 * - general knowledge
 * - can help with basic data about lakes. General knowledge
 * Little Mountain 5 - interested in Oregon lakes
 * gppande - interested in lakes of India
 * User:Marcia Wright - Writing / editing articles on lakes and reservoirs in California
 * User:Swissphil - Working on lakes in Switzerland coverage.
 * moseljack
 * Kamal2099 - Web Admin for the Ganga Talao - Mauritius ( Www.gangatalao.org )
 * Lake Central - Lakes in the Canadian Shield
 * - Canoe Tripper in Algonquin Provincial Park and all across Northern Ontario.
 * Lakegeorge2008
 * Zebl3785 - I'm interested in the Lakes and Tarns of the English Lake District
 * Kevin Kelly - Lake Hyco in Person and Caswell counties in North Carolina
 * Jaromhuff21 - Working on the lakes of Utah and the western slope of Colorado
 * Ottre - Lochs of Scotland
 * Joshcvb - Lakes of Michigan and the U.S.
 * Drunk redneck - (only worked on Lake Niangua article)
 * User:Buffalo Bulls - interested in upstate NY lakes; would help on pages in disrepair
 * MikeGruz - Interested in lakes in the central plains region.
 * Eaglecap Backpack - Interested in high elevation lakes, specifically those in north west United States
 * User:Vdiest - Interest only in South Africa lakes, dams, Estuaries etc.
 * Handbook3
 * User:BGinOC - interested in lakes and researching bodies of water
 * ContrillionAU (talk) 10:01, 15 August 2010 (UTC)
 * User:VTBurtonRA - Lake Norman, NC, boating safey instructor, Lake Norman Sail and Power Squadron
 * User:Ramakrishna Battula - Lake KOLLERU, Kaikalur Resident Kaikalur
 * User:Floul4- Illinois Lakes editor
 * User:VisitLakeOconee-working on the Lake Oconee to update information and ensure that no marketing materials get posted again.
 * User:Bruin2 - Lakes and reservoirs in Oklahoma
 * Curtaintoad - All lakes
 * User:Kyle1081 - Lakes in the southern United States
 * User:Uberstadt - Bodies in the Puget Sound region
 * - I like lakes and large bodies of water.
 * Peterye2005 - Lakes in the United States and Canada
 * Bilbo1997 - Pluvial lakes in South Central Oregon and surrounding archaeology.
 * Kau thænt - Lake
 * - Pyramid Lake & Lake Tahoe, as well as lakes in the West and National Parks.
 * User:El_Foes - Expanding Loch of the Lowes, hopefully more Perthshire lochs if all goes well
 * 18:55:45, 17 March 2022 (UTC) - Portage Lakes
 * Bilbo1997 - Pluvial lakes in South Central Oregon and surrounding archaeology.
 * Kau thænt - Lake
 * - Pyramid Lake & Lake Tahoe, as well as lakes in the West and National Parks.
 * User:El_Foes - Expanding Loch of the Lowes, hopefully more Perthshire lochs if all goes well
 * 18:55:45, 17 March 2022 (UTC) - Portage Lakes

Userbox
Placing either of the following userboxes on your user page will add add you to Category:WikiProject Lakes participants.

Articles
As of the first stages of development, no written-in-stone rules apply to lake articles; however, this may change. Please discuss this at the project's talk page. More general guide on naming is found at: Naming conventions (geographic names) while project specific cases are addressed below.

Multiple lakes with the same name
Due to the fact that there are countless lakes in the world with the same name, the following method of disambiguation is proposed:
 * The most well known lake can stay at the un-disambiguated title, lesser known ones add a qualifier. Perhaps Fork Lake, Fork Lake (disambiguation), Fork Lake (Alberta).
 * Where a number of lakes with the same name exist in a region, the disambiguation may need to include a subregion and a Set Index Article. Create a set index article to aid in common region naming which is the current common practice for the common names like Mud Lake and Clear Lake. name (region) such as Clear Lake (Michigan) which are similar to lists, but with different rules allowing for redlinking and help with disambiguation and navigation. Lakes linked within the index should include the a subregion and region such as Clear Lake (Berrien County, Michigan) most often the administrative region where it is located.

Lakes with multiple names
Some lakes have names with multiple spellings which vary with the different countries the lake borders. Occasionally, a lake can have several genuinely distinct names. The following rules are suggested for choosing a primary name for such a lake:
 * If the lake is particularly famous under one name, then choose that name.
 * If the portion of the lake that uses a particular name is much more distinct than other sections, then use that as the article's name.
 * If everything else is equal, then choose the name for the largest portion of the lake.

Lakes crossing regional borders
Lets discuss to refine and add examples This naming practice of lakes that cross borders should follow the naming resolution for Precision and disambiguation. If you find an article and are unsure you can apply the controversial moves template to add move suggestion and rational.

Example:
 * Lake George (Michigan–Ontario)

Lists
This guide aims to expand upon the practices outlined at Stand-alone lists, Naming conventions (long lists), and Manual_of_Style/Lists to address cases and application to WikiProject Lakes. Discuss changes on WP Lakes Talk.

Natural vs Manmade

 * If the scope of the list is primarily of natural features ie lakes for consistency with Categories the format should use "of" List of Lakes of Country . Add a redirect for the "in" variant.
 * If the scope of the list is primarily man-made features like reservoirs for consistency with Categories the format should use "in" List of Dams and Reservoirs in Country . Add a redirect for the "of" variant.
 * When a list scope and title is a mix of man-made and natural features the type follow the convention of the existing lists, but if no others exist use the of the majority of the article's content to dictate if "of" or "in" should be the primary article name. Add a redirect for the name variant that was not selected.

Lead paragraph
The first paragraph should be a self-contained description including the most important things to know; name(s) - both historic and current - in bold, location (continent/countries/seaboards), and notable facts about the lake, such as largest port (see Lead section for guidelines).

Hydrology
The narrative description of the lake should proceed from the main inflows of the lake downstream to its outflows, noting direction, major tributaries, human settlements and statistics. This should be at least a paragraph, maybe several paragraphs for famous lakes. This section would also include numerical data on length, volume, drainage basin, etc.

Info on water basins can be found at World resources Institute (site is down; archive). Antarctic water basin information can be researched using USGS maps.

Geology
The evolution of some lakes has been well explored. Such information should be placed here, with a suitable discussion of all point of views when possible.

Natural history
Mention distinctive plants and animals associated with any part of the lake.

History
Describe what is known about the different inhabitants along the river, along with a description of the scientific exploration expeditions/efforts.

Economy
Countless lakes have been used as means of transportation, fishing, power generation, etc., and are still used so today. All such information should be described here. Stylistically, this can be a good segue from history, connecting past uses of the lake to present-day uses.

Lists
List the cities and towns around the lake, complete with identifiable info such as population. List the major flora and fauna such as species of interest.

References and external links
Preferably refer to history, ecology, public policy, books, websites, etc.

Infobox
The following may be used:
 * Infobox body of water
 * Infobox dam - for reservoirs with dams where no separate dam article exists or makes sense.

Images
There should be at least one picture, preferably a typical view. Important lakes should have additional pictures illustrating their notable features. Maps of the lake's drainage basin would be an asset.

Articles where the infobox doesn't include an image yet are listed at: Category:Articles using infobox body of water without image

Indexing
The article List of lakes is only for major lakes, ordered by continent.

Categories
The main subcategories of Category:Lakes are listed on the right:

Categorization by location
Every article should belong to a category. If the lake is restricted to one or more states/provinces in a country, use separate categories for each one, e.g. Lake Tahoe belongs in Category:Lakes of Nevada as well as Category:Lakes of California. If it is restricted to one country, list in Category:country lakes. If it exists within several countries, list in each country category and maybe Category: continent lakes.

Please use categories carefully to get the right one(s) linked on your page. It is fine to use more than one... in fact, it may be encouraged. However, don't categorize a lake where it doesn't belong. If there are any questions, please use the Talk page.

Categorization by type
If the category for the specific type of lake is available, please add it in addition to the category by location.

List structure
A guide for the List Structure of Lakes Project list articles (Category:List-Class Lakes articles is currently under development on the talk page.

The discussion is currently developing a guide for Lakes, Lochs, and Reservoirs focusing the guidelines from WikiProject Lists in the context of WikiProject Lakes' scope. Additionally, work previously done is being documented to help check the existing list articles and inform their expansion. Please feel free to contribute to this discussion.

List Types
Types of lists within WikiProject Lakes scope: (To be expanded in discussion)

Set Index Lists

 * Lakes with the Same Name in Region

Lakes or Reservoir in Region(s)

 * Lists of lakes/lochs of a given Country
 * Lists of lakes/lochs of given Country Region
 * Lists of dams and reservoirs in a given Country
 * Lists of dams and reservoirs in given Country Region

Largest Measure
Lists of lakes/lochs/reservoirs by largest:
 * Surface Area
 * Depth
 * Elevation

Defaults
The default parameters to be included in all list articles are being discussed. Proposed options include:
 * Sort Order (To be expanded)
 * Columns - Name, Coordinate, Region, Surface Area, National Identifier (optional) (To be expanded)

Talk page banner
The message box is available and preferred to add to talk pages of lake articles and gives:

Early pages of the project were tagged with and result in the same banner, but  is the format closely following WikiProjects article tagging practice. WP:WikiProject coordination

Talk page todo
The is applied to the article talk page to outline what else the article needs to reach then next class after an assessment and to list other leads for further development.

Navboxes
</noinclude

Infobox

 * Infobox body of water

Set Index Page
The Lake index tag offers functionality similar to Disambiguation, but for just the same type ie lakes. Functionally similar to list pages, but often contains more than just a list. The index pages also works well as a focus list for creating the articles with redlinks. The Lakes Set Index Category highlights current indexes.

Stubs
The Wikipedia WikiProject Stub sorting created: Category:Lake stubs and the articles with Template:Lake-stub included on the page will appear in the category. Country specific lake stubs are in the format country-lake-stub ie.

Members
Showing Project Membership and interest in lakes. These will lists your account in both Category:WikiProject Lakes participants and Category:Wikipedians interested in lakes.

Expressing Interest in Lakes
Showing General Interest in Lakes only. Will only list your account in Category:Wikipedians interested in lakes.

Categories

 * List of

Resources
Note: please add any additional sources you come across here:
 * LakeNet - worldlakes.org
 * Atlas of Alberta Lakes
 * Data on Maine Lakes, compiled by the University of Maine
 * Federal Environment Agency (Germany) - Publications on surface waterwaters - mainly in German
 * Lakes Germany 2004 - about 227 lakes in Germany
 * Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Lake Finder - information on more than 4,500 of Minnesota's 14,000 lakes
 * State of Washington Water Supply Bulletins and cite WSB - with information on lakes in the state
 * Florida Lakewatch, which provides information on most of the several thousand natural lakes in Florida
 * Fishing Works website (lakes section), provides geographical coordinates, topographical maps, elevations of lake surfaces, satellite images of thousands of lakes in the United States; this site provides fishing information in another section, but usually not about specific lakes
 * Hook and Bullet website, which provides information about the types of fish in a number of lakes in the United States and Canada; this site also provides satellite imaging of lakes
 * Trails.com website, which provides detailed topographical information, provided geographic coordinates are known
 * Takemefishing.org website, which provides information on many lakes in the United States; it gives information about fish species in many lakes and amenities, such as public boat ramps, area hotels.
 * Geographic names
 * BC Geographical Names Information System and BCGNIS for lakes in British Columbia, Canada
 * Geographic Names Information System and gnis for lakes in the United States