Evaluation of Eutrophication Levels in Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf Lake, Iraq (Biological and Chemical study)

Abstract

The present study was conducted because of rapidly increasing pollution in Al-Najaf lake, which is one of the significant shallow lakes of Iraq, lake facing tremendous pressure due to encroachments, discharge of untreated domestic and industrial waste, drainage water from cultivated orchards, dumping of solid waste and illegal diversion of water, and currently it still suffering from these problems and neglect, the lake could be important tourist and recreational place in Governorate if we could preserve it and remove the pollution sources. Study aimed to evaluation the eutrophication status, and plotted by (GIS). Eutrophication is a serious problem in lakes, awareness about the eutrophic status could help in providing a better understanding of the problem. this study conducted to assess temporal and spatial eutrophication index in AL-najaf lake. The eutrophication level of the lake is determined with help of 0 – 100 scale based on (TSI) calculations and (Ta), (Chl-a), (TP), (TN), (Pb) heavy metal, (TSS), (TDS), (pH), (EC), (MPN) and (COD). Lake can be classified according to Carlson as eutrophic (TSI was higher than 80) with dominance of blue green algae, extensive macrophyte problems, while according trophic state index (TSI) classification (TSI), (TP) and (Chl-a), were classified the lake as extremely hyper eutrophic and algal scums