Over twenty years trend of chloride ion concentration in Lake Biwa

Abstract

Recent increase of chloride ion concentration in Lake Biwa was considered. Over the past 20 years' data at the North Basin of Lake Biwa showed that chloride ion concentration has been continuously increasing from 7.4 to 9.9 mg l-1 at 0.5 m depth from lake surface and from 7.3 to 9.9 mg l-1 above the bottom (depth of over 80 m from lake surface). This low level salinity indicated, however, about 35% increase through 20 years. In this paper, we reported the trend and the tendency of chloride ion concentration at some locations and the change of climatic data through 20 years in Lake Biwa. In a short period within one year, chloride ion concentration clearly fluctuated in the upper water layer. This fluctuation was mostly influenced by precipitation. Similar trend of chloride ion concentration could be seen in the South Basin of Lake Biwa with much higher concentration than that in the North Basin. We also discussed the long-term changes of chloride concentrations in 5 major rivers with large catchment area, water level and precipitation. The data of river discharge indicated that some rivers in the southern part of the North Basin in Lake Biwa contain a relatively high chloride concentration compared with others. Furthermore, we proposed a simple conceptual model with variable outflow and inflow fluxes. This conceptual model expressed an amount of chloride budget. We estimated the average chloride flux flowing from the watershed into Lake Biwa using the data of chloride ion concentration in the lake and the data of water discharge from the lake. Comparing the results of the model analysis with the data of 12 major rivers contributing large flux to Lake Biwa, we suggested that river inflow is one of the major sources to induce the increase of chloride ion concentration in the lake, and the inflow from non-point source can be also important sources.