The quality of the water is the most important indicator of the health of Turtle Lake

Water tests reveal the present state of water quality in the lake and provides a green, yellow or red signal to those who know and love the lake. A well-designed water testing program conducted periodically over an extended period of time reveal changes in water quality over time. These facts were recognized by the Saskatchewan Government in the 1950’s and Saskatchewan’s most valued lakes were tested every four or five years.  Each lake in the testing program was assigned a water quality index number with 100 indicating a perfect water quality score.  This allowed interested people to easily compare the water quality from one time frame to another or from one lake to another.

Province of Saskatchewan, after decades of testing the waters of it's most important lakes, in 2012 abandoned the testing program citing budgetary constraints.

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The TLWI felt that the loss of a regular water testing program placed the entire ecosystem at risk.  In 2017 the TLWI purchased all of the equipment required to sample and perform basic water tests.  The TLWI  will test the water twice a year using the same protocol as the former provincial tests.