Most software promises to save you time. This one asks you to start doing something you have probably never done.
On November 1, Lake Pulse opens to lake communities across the United States. After two years of building, testing with lake associations, and arguing with ourselves about what a lake platform should and should not do, it goes live.
We want to be honest about what we're asking of you, because it isn't nothing. We're asking you to measure your lake on purpose, this year, next year and the year after, before anything appears to be wrong. That's a harder sell than most software makes, and it's the entire point.
What launches
The Portal. Your lake's operating system. Test results, sensor readings, field notes, photographs, and history pulled out of old reports, organized by place and season, because the cove and the boat landing are not the same lake.
The app. Lake Status, alerts and projects from your Lake Admin, plus weather, photos, field notes, your lake's Snapshot, and lake news from your state. Anyone on the lake can report a bloom from their phone.
The Toolbox. Lab tests, field tools, real-time sensors, drones, satellite, data services, and eight self-serve Check bundles. Every item has a price printed next to it, and results land in your Portal without anyone rekeying a PDF.
Lake Atlas. A public page for each of 484,442 lakes in the lower 48, free for everyone. Each answers five questions from state and federal records: can we eat the fish, are there swimming advisories, has a bloom been reported, is the lake impaired, and are invasive species recorded. Atlas Pass adds each lake's full advisory and listing history.
The Boathouse. Lake scientists with no treatment to sell you. Which test answers your question, what your results mean, and when the honest answer is that you need to hire somebody.
Lake Pulse PRO. For agencies, universities, nonprofits and consultants with a mandate across more than one lake. Included with every Lake Admin subscription for the lake's own expert.
Why now
In most of the country, autumn is when the season's damage is fresh, the boats come out, the board meets, and next year's budget gets argued over. It's the moment a lake community is most likely to say we should have known sooner.
Starting now also means your first full season of data begins in spring with a baseline already in place. Start in July and you have half a season and no comparison.
What we are not building
We don't sell treatment. No algaecides, no aeration, no dredging, no harvesting. There's no version of our business that improves when your lake gets worse, and that's deliberate.
We're not a replacement for the professionals already doing this work. Lake Pulse is the layer underneath them, holding the record so their expertise compounds instead of getting stranded in an inbox.
And we don't grade your lake. No score out of ten, no letter, no ranking against your neighbors.
What we want from the first year
Lakes that start measuring before there's an emergency. Every expensive lake problem in America was once a cheap lake problem that nobody was watching.
We'd rather have a thousand lakes with three years of boring, continuous data than a hundred that showed up in a crisis. The boring data is what makes the crisis legible when it comes.
If you're on a lake
Start with the Member tier, find your lake, and see what's already on record. Most communities are surprised by how much history they already have and how little of it is usable.
If you have a filing cabinet full of old reports, the Boathouse can help get it out. If you've never tested anything, PulseCheck is the place to start.
