In summer 1988, Lake Taneycomo, Missouri, developed conspicuous algal blooms as a result of low inflow from an upstream hydropower reservoir and phosphorus loading from a point source. In multiple regression models, variation in total phosphorus concentration and an index of water residence time accounted for 78–85 percent of the variation in transparency, chlorophyll, and volatile suspended solids in surface water. Non-equilibrium conditions in this rapidly flushed lake led to rapid and predictable increases in algal standing crops during lulls in power generation.