Monitoring of the Water Eutrophycation Process in Red Lake, from Harghita County, Romania

Alina Agafiţei,Vasile Lucian Pavel

doi:10.11648/j.earth.20211001.11

Abstract

The main problem of freshwater lakes in the world, eutrophycation represents the over-enrichment of water by nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus) and has emerged as one of the leading causes of surface water quality impairment. It is a rapidly growing environmental crisis, and worldwide, the number of coastal areas impacted by eutrophycation phenomenon stands at over 500. This important pollution process sets off a chain reaction in the ecosystem, starting with an overabundance of algae and other aquatic plants, excess which eventually decompose, producing large amounts of carbon dioxide. This paper is the result of researches located in Romania, performed over a period of eight years (2012-2019), in the area of a representative natural dam lake of the country - Red Lake, from Harghita County. Our researches aimed the quality parameters of the Red Lake water, the eutrophication process indicators, and their over time evolution. In order to predict the evolution of the studied pollution phenomenon in time, we used the software package “Surface-water Modeling System SMS 13.0” – the complete surface water solution, which was approached for the first time by Aquaveo. This software provides a comprehensive graphical environment for numerical modeling of eutrophycation, and tools for site characterization, model conceptualization and graphical visualization.

Highlights

A general threat to all surface waters, not spectacular, but more dangerous through consequences than acute pollution, is the progressive, often latent, almost unnoticed pollution, which accumulates the effect of small sources with diffuse pollution, and takes chronic forms [1, 2]
Water pollution in lakes starts when nutrients get into their water, feed algae, which grows and blocks sunlight; in consequence, plants die, and, eventually, algae die too [1, 3, 5]
Formed in 1837, following a large landslide that affected the mass of deluvial deposits at the base of Ghilcoș Mountain, barring the Bicaz Valley in the confluence sector with Suhard stream, Red Lake is unique in the landscape area from all points of view

Summary

Introduction

The process of degradation of the environmental factors across the globe has seen a steady ascendant course over past decades, an increasingly worrying trend, with the amount of pollutants, reaching figures that go beyond the imagination and continue to grow in almost geometric progression. A general threat to all surface waters, not spectacular, but more dangerous through consequences than acute pollution, is the progressive, often latent, almost unnoticed pollution, which accumulates the effect of small sources with diffuse pollution, and takes chronic forms [1, 2]. Such a pollution type is the eutrophycation process, our subject of research, characteristic especially for artificial lakes, and present in the natural ones, which brings particular problems from the water treatment technologies point of view. Formed in 1837, following a large landslide that affected the mass of deluvial deposits at the base of Ghilcoș Mountain, barring the Bicaz Valley in the confluence sector with Suhard stream, Red Lake is unique in the landscape area from all points of view

Lake Characteristics

Trophic Characterization

Conclusions