This is part of an ongoing long-term monitoring dataset of surface temperature, surface oxygen, water clarity, water chemistry and phytoplankton chlorophyll a from fortnightly sampling at Esthwaite Water in Cumbria, England that began in 1945 for some variables. The data have been collected by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH). The data available to download comprise surface temperature (TEMP) in degree Celsius, surface oxygen saturation (OXYG) in % air-saturation, Secchi depth (SECC) in metres, alkalinity (ALKA) in µg per litre as CaCO3 and pH. Ammonium (NH4N), nitrate (NO3N), soluble reactive phosphate (PO4P), total phosphorus (TOTP), dissolved reactive silicon expressed as SiO2 (SIO2) and phytoplankton chlorophyll a (TOCA) are all given in µg per litre. Water samples are based on a sample integrated from 0 to 5 m. All data are from January 2019 until the end of 2020. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/26ea7dfb-59f2-4dc5-b1ee-e9270167a6a2