The first version of PCLake (by then called PCLoos) was built in the early 1990s at the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), within the framework of a research and restoration project on Lake Loosdrecht. It has been extended and improved since then. Parallel to PCLake, PCDitch was created, which is an ecosystem model for ditches and other linear water bodies. The models were further developed by dr. Jan H. Janse and colleagues at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), formerly part of the RIVM. Since 2009, the model is jointly owned by PBL and the Netherlands Institute of Ecology, where further development and application of PCLake is taking place, related to aquatic-ecological research.