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Aquatic Research and Water Quality Trends
in the United States and Poland
WILLIAM E. Co oP ER
Michigan State University
This chapter addresses trends in water quality in the United States
and Poland and the ecological research associated with environmental
assessments of the impacts of these trends. These impact analyses are
generally based on risk assessments that involve transport, fate, exposure,
and toxicology of various materials. The research activities discussed below
are those that contribute directly to these processes.
Mends in water quality parameters include both surface and groundwa-
ter resources. The nutrient concentrations are limited to phosphorus and
nitrogen. The toxic chemicals include the most commonly detected classes
of chlorinated organic compounds. The U.S. data were obtained mostly
from state and federal monitoring programs, and the discussion here uses
the Laurentian Great Lakes as a prototype watershed. The Polish data
were obtained primarily from the Board of Environmental Protection and
Water Management in Poland.
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Traditionally, environmental scientists have subdivided integrated eco-
systems into a media-specific taxonomy. Research, teaching, and regulatory
activities are organized into categories such as soil, groundwater, surface
water (i.e., freshwater lakes and streams, manna-inshore, and bluewater),
and atmosphere. - The basic concepts of ecology are thought to be generic
to all media. The differences are associated with the physical constraints
that limit the expression of ecological processes to a subset of the total
array possible. These~physical constraints are usually media-specific.
Impact assessments of environmental and ecological resources are
currently required by many state and federal agencies. Many of these
297
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298
ECOLOGIC USE
regulations require the assessments to be anticipatory. The analyses are,
therefore, based on predictive models, laboratory determinations of critical
processes and rates, microcosm experiments with simplistic ecosystems,
or field validations with small-scale test systems. These activities involve
the use of scientific assumptions involving reality, precision, and scale.
Substantial research activity has been directed toward understanding and
measurement of the fate, effect, transport, and exposure pathway of toxic
chemicals in the environment. Even so, there is a great deal more that we
need to learn before impact assessment models will work generically under
field conditions.
If biological communities and transport pathways of chemicals were
unique to each media, the existing organizational structure would be ideal.
Unfortunately, there is considerable documentation that organisms with
complex life histories occupy different media during their life span, and most
chemicals cycle through ecosystems involving many media. For example,
lake sediments are both sources and sinks for nutrients, and toxicants cycle
in the planktonic community. Erosion is a major transport mechanism
between terrestrial and aquatic communities. Most shallow groundwaters
emerge as surface water through seeps, springs, and emergent water courses.
Rain and snow scavenge materials from the atmosphere, resulting in wet
deposition to both terrestrial and aquatic systems. Gravity does the same
for larger particles as dry deposition.
The pathways that couple media-specific subsystems do exist. The
major issues involve the intensity of the transport processes relative to the
processing capability of the media, given the concentrations of the materials
and the retention times within the media receiving the input. This section
will focus on those biological and chemical processes that affect the fate,
transport, effect, and exposure of materials that are utilized in performing
ecological risk assessments in freshwater environments.
Predictions of ecological events can be based on stimulus/response be-
haviors of interacting species populations. The flows of the requisite energy
and material resources required to maintain viable populations involve a
wide variety of biological processes. Multispecies interactions mediated
through such processes as competition, predation, and succession deter-
mine which constellation of organisms are predominant under a designated
set of abiotic conditions. There is a dynamic structure to ecological sys-
tems which is both opportunistic and adaptive. This hierarchical structure
is both temporally and spatially distributed, and its behaviors are often
nonlinear, with an array of process-specific time lags. The control systems
are entirely feedback and are decentralized, as they are often associated
with the processes themselves.
These characteristics make it very unlikely that useful predictions of
specific behavior resulting from the aggregation of multistage processes will
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IMPACTS ON AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
299
result from simple numerical solutions. Most ecological predictions result
from dynamical simulation models that contain a number of components;
each component is represented by a set of state and response equations;
and each equation involves a series of specific parameters. The values of
these parameters are represented as distributive functions with coefficients
of variation that usually exceed 30%. The variations in parameter values in-
clude elements of genetic, physiological, and behavioral variability as well as
sampling errors. There currently is no way to calculate confidence intervals
around the final predictions from such complex ecological interactions.
An illustration of the multifactor interactions that relate to the fate
of toxic materials in the environment can be obtained from the anaerobic
degradation of halogenated organic compounds. Bonwer et al. (1981) pre-
sented results of microbial degradation of several halogenated compounds
under anaerobic conditions. Cultures seeded with methanogenic bacteria
showed significant reductions in the parent compounds within a 16-week
period. Only the original compounds were analyzed, so there is no infor-
mation on the extent of mineralization. Thus, the methanogenic pathway of
carbon flow does result in the dehalogenation of several organic toxicants.
Given that the mechanism does exist, the issue becomes the importance
of this pathway of carbon flow in natural ecosystems. There are two major
pathways for carbon flow in the anaerobic sediments of warm-water lakes.
The methanogenesis pathway involves an array of microbes that utilize
electron acceptors (i.e., HCO3) generated or regenerated internally within
the zone of anaerobic metabolism. The sulfate reduction pathway involves
a different array of bacteria whose metabolic rates are limited by electron
acceptors (i.e., S04) generated or regenerated externally to the anaerobic
sediment zone. LoYley and Klug (1986) presented a more detailed model
of the two competing pathways. Both pathways utilize acetate, which arises
from the leaching and hydrolysis of particulate organic matter followed
by anaerobic fermentation. - The factors that. control the production of
particulate organic matter involve nutrient availability, competition, and
predation in the epilimnetic portions of a lake.
The profundal sediments in oligotrophic and mesotrophic lakes have
respiration indices (RI = i4Co2/~4CH4) of approximately 1.0 in the upper
4 cm. The eutrophic lakes—with higher organic inputs to the sediments
and limited SO4 recharge from the water column have RI indices between
0.2 and 0.4. The dominance of either pathway is the result of a competitive
interaction of two very different bacterial communities mediated by com-
munity events in the adjacent water column Money et al., 1982; Lovley
and Klug, 1982; Lovley and Klug, 1983~.
Many of the diagnostic parameters of chemicals are measured under
simple two-phase conditions. Volatilization rates are measured as trans-
fers through an air,~water interface. Solubilities are measured as solute
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300
ECOLOGICAL RISKS
and solvent ratios in pure water. Bioaccumulation rates are related to
octanolAvater partition coefficients that are measured with two phases in
pure state. However, the behaviors of chemicals in natural systems cannot
usually be predicted from these idealized parameters. Natural systems are
"multiphasic" and the processes of adsorption, absorption, volatilization,
hydrolysis, and photodegradation are not easily characterized by simple
rate coefficients.
A good example of the importance of chemical processes is the current
dilemma with the Story/Ott/Cordova site in Muskegon, Michigan. The
groundwater is a contained aquifer; the only outlet is surface flows through
Bear Creek. The aquifer is contaminated with many thousands of kilograms
of organic compounds, including benzene, dichloroethanes, toluene, and
vinyl chloride. The parent company, Corn Products Corporation, has
recommended an out-of-court settlement that involves monitoring, financial
compensation for impairment of the resource, and air stripping through
natural volatilization as the groundwater flows to the surface. However,
environmental groups have demanded a multimillion dollar purge and
incineration alternative. The analysis of trade-offs involves risks, benefits,
and uncertainties which depend upon physical parameters that control the
fate and transport of these volatile organic compounds.
The behavior of contaminants in the environment is determined by
two fundamental groupings of processes. Transport processes serge to
move chemicals through the environment. This may simply involve flow
within a medium such as the movement of the constituents in a wastewa-
ter discharge—downstream with the flow of water. It can also involve the
movement of chemical species between media, e.g., when the wastewater
discharge contains a volatile compound which moves into the atmosphere
as it travels downstream. Such intermedia transport processes result in a
distribution of the contaminant, necessitating consideration of flow pro-
cesses in two media. Consideration must also be given to transformation
processes—reactions that serge to alter the nature of environmental con-
taminants. Transformation processes include such environmentally signifi-
cant reactions as hydrolysis, protolysis and oxidation/reduction.
The fates of organic and inorganic chemicals in the environment are
highly influenced by biological, particularly microbial, processes (Alexander,
19814. These processes can involve mineralization, cometabolism, activa-
tion, or incomplete biodegradation. Recently, there has been an increasing
research effort to document the mechanisms, environmental constraints,
and requisite microbial flora that produce these alternative scenarios. Pri-
ority areas for research fall into several general categories. Synthetic
organic compounds often do not have natural structural analogs. Evolution
is not preadaptive, so there is no guarantee that an appropriate biochemical
pathway is present in any given microbial community. The susceptibility of
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IMPACTS ON AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
301
synthetic compounds to mineralization in various media such as anaerobic
groundwater, aerobic surface water, and saturated soil- is a critical area
requiring further investigation.
Often, portions of a metabolic sequence that would lead to mineral-
ization are present. Limitations such as the lack of an adequate electron
acceptor, insufficient concentrations of the parent compound to support
a healthy microbial community, or ecological interactions like predation
or competition from other organisms, can restrict the expression of some
idealized process of mineralization. Since natural microbial communities
evolved to exploit a vast array of natural organic compounds under many
environmental conditions, there is an enormous number of combinations
of "compound x microbial community x ecosystem" that are important
to understand. The daughter products that arise from incomplete degra-
dation present the ecologist with an impact assessment task of increasing
complexity and uncertainty.
Many toxic compounds exist in nature at trace levels of concentration.
Even if the potential for microbial processing exists, the concentrations of
organics are too low to supply sufficient energy to maintain adequate pop-
ulations of the microbe (Boethling and Alexander, 1979~. "Piggybacking"
energy resources with degradation processing appears to occur through
cometabolism. In addition, bacteria produce polysaccharide substrates that
bind dissolved organic matter and increase their concentrations in mi-
crosites. We need to understand these natural reactions and investigate
ways of enhancing these activities in both freshwater and marine aquatic
ecosystems.
Several types of natural organic substrates are quite resistant to micro-
bial breakdown (Alexander, 1973~. Leaves with high levels of condensed
tannins, the humic components of many soils, and wood materials contain-
ing cellulose, lignins, and hemicelluloses all have been demonstrated to be
recalcitrant. These substrates are also prime binding sites for trace organic
toxicants. The accessibility of compounds for microbial degradation is often
reduced when they are attached to the surfaces of large substrates.
All of these factors are critical issues when one starts with ambient con-
centrations of some toxicant and attempts to assess the ecological impact
in some specified environment. Once the fate, distribution, and concentra-
tion of the parent compound and daughter products are characterized, the
remaining factor is the exposure rate for each biological species of concern.
Exposure rates under field conditions are the most difficult measurements
to obtain. This involves a blending of analytical chemistry, life history
aspects of the organism, and the physiological processes of assimilation,
deputation, and passive uptake. There are very few organisms of social
and/or economic interests for which these rates are well documented.
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302
ECOLOGICAL RISKS
Over the past decade, an increased emphasis on study of the fate of
chemicals in groundwater systems has developed. More than 40% of the
U.S. population uses groundwater for drinking, often with no treatment
other than disinfection in municipal systems. Rural sources of groundwater
are often used for potable water without treatment.
Therefore, the attention of both researchers and regulators has been
focused on the problems of widespread use of substantial quantities of
chlorinated organic solvents (more than 2.0 million tons/year in the United
States) and the discovery of literally thousands of sites across the country
where these materials, along with petroleum derivatives, have been detected
as contaminants in freshwater aquifers. Contamination of groundwater is a
serious problem because subsurface aquifers do not have the same natural
degradation mechanisms that are present in surface water systems. A1-
though groundwater systems are substantially less active both biologically
and chemically than are surface water ecosystems, there are still a large
number of processes that affect the transport and fate of trace contami-
nants in subsurface aquifers. Questions of interest in understanding the
environmental fate of trace organics include:
· What are the mechanisms of removal or transformation?
What are the intermediate and end products of the transforma-
tions?
· What are the transport kinetics of the chemical contaminants in
relation to the general flow of the aquifer?
What manipulations can be performed on contaminated areas most
effectively to remove or reduce contaminant levels?
Many of the same physical characteristics of the contaminant molecules
that influence transport in surface waters are also important in groundwater
movement. Water solubility and the adsorption potential of a chemical are
among the most significant. Chemicals or chemical mixtures with low water
solubilities and densities less than 1.0 generally exist as free-phase layers
on top of the surficial aquifer. Depending upon the rate of infiltration
and vapor pressure of the material, there may be significant losses to the
atmosphere as well. The most common example of this behavior is the
case of losses of gasoline or fuel oil from catastrophic spills or leaking
underground storage tanks. In such cases, recovery systems can often be
installed to withdraw the supernatant layer off of the aquifer and remove the
bunk of the polluting material. Mace concentrations of organic contaminants
often remain in the system at the limits of solubility and in the unsaturated
overlying soils. The dynamics of the environmental transport and fate of
these contaminants are therefore of great interest.
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IMPACTS ON AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
TABLE 1 Trends in water quality, 1975-1981. Trends represent the number
of streams showing significant differences at the 90% confidence level.
Total Phosphorus
Inorganic Nitrogen
Increasing Trend 35 72
Decreasing Trend 29 24
No Change 245 152
SOURCE: USGS Stream Quality Accounting Network, 1984
lllENDS IN WATER QUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES
Nutrients
303
Nutrient loadings to surface waters were a major focus of the 1972
Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Phosphorus and nitrogen were the
two elements associated with cultural eutrophication. The geochemical
cycling of phosphorus is highly influenced by physical parameters, while the
nitrogen circle is strongly regulated by microbial activity.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has maintained a network of
stream monitoring stations since 1975 (USGS, 1984~. Able 1 presents
the direction of trends that are statistically significant between 1975-1981.
The pattern is obviously mixed, with the southern coastal areas indicating
increasing concentrations and the majority of the interior section indicating
a reduction in phosphorus concentration.
In the Great Lakes Region, the trend reflects a systematic reduction in
phosphorus concentration. The 1985 Report on Great Lakes Water Quality
(Figure 1) presents total phosphorus concentrations in the surface waters of
Lake Ontario. Between 1970 and 1983 there was almost a 50% reduction
in concentration. The major changes in loadings resulted from a ban on
the sale of high-phosphate detergents and the precipitation of phosphorus
in the secondary treatment phase of municipal wastewater treatment plants
(Figure 2~.
Nitrogen, on the other hand, has demonstrated a trend of increasing
concentrations in surface stream waters during the period from 1975-1983
Cable 1~. This trend is also apparent in the Great Lakes surface waters
(Figure 3~. The sources of nitrogen are varied, and the transport processes
more complex. On a regional basis, the most likely source of increasing
inputs are human and animal wastes and mineral fertilizer from agricultural
and domestic activities.
The trend in nutrient concentrations in groundwaters is basically asso-
ciated with nitrogen. Table 2 presents the nitrate-nitrogen concentrations of
about 124,000 wells categorized by depth. The only significant increase in
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304
ECOLOGICAL RISKS
A
CU
24
20
18
10
o
19 70 1971 1972 1973 197. 1975 1976 197 7 1970 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983
FIGURE 1 Area-weighted mean whole lake spring total phosphorus concentrations in the
surface waters (1 m) of Intake Ontano, 197~1983. Data : from Environment Canada (12),
1985 Report on Great Intakes Ubter Qualibr, IJ.C.
nitrogen concentration was observed in shallow aquifers less than 100 feet
(30 m) in depth. The most likely sources of increasing inputs are animal
production facilities, human septic fields, and mineral fertilizers. Hallbert
(1987) reported that nitrate concentrations in groundwater for two well sys-
tems increased from less than 10 to over 200 mgA during the period from
1934-1984. This correlates very well win the pattern of nitrogen fertilizer
used in Iowa during the same period, which increased from small amounts
to over 1.1 million tons per year. The regulation of nitrogen inputs into
both surface and groundwaters is still a major problem that demands a high
research priority.
Toxic Chemicals
Recent developments in analytical chemistry have expanded the array
of toxicants that can be extracted for analysis from organisms, water,
and sediments. Technical developments have also drastically lowered the
level of detectability. For example, dioxin analyses can be conducted
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
surface waters
IMPACTS ON AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
Boon
35CO
3000
25~)
12000
'1500
110=
c, 10500
Cal 10000
9500
~ 9~0
0 5500
8000
c: 7500
,~ 7~0
6500
6000
5500
o 5000
s 45=
8 4000
o4 3500
3000
O 2500
54 2C00
lSCO
1000
LAKE ERIE
1
GAS. toad an 1 I
\
306
360
340
3ao
300
\ ~
—240
V
So
V
Marl
2ao
~0
160
140
120
~0
~0
60
40
20
1977 1978 1979
o
ECOLOGICAL RISKS
1969 1g70 1971 1972 1973 1974 1~5 1976
1980 1981 1962 ~83
FIGURE 3 Area-weighted mean whole lake spring nitrate plus nitrite concentrations in
the surface waters (1 m) of Intake Ontano, 1969-1983. Data from Environment Canada (12),
1985 Report on Great Intakes Water Quality, IJ.C.
TABLE 2 Groundwater contamination (as percentages).
Nitrate-Nitrogen Concentration
Depth of Well Fraction of lOmg.1
(feet) Wells Sampled -lOmg
< 100 38 32 52 68
101 - 200 22 21 22 18
200 - 300 12 14 11 6
> 300 28 33 15 8
SOURCE: USGS, 1984
IMPACTS ON AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
307
partitioning coefficients between 104 and 106. Therefore, the compounds
are tightly bound to particulates and do not occur in the aqueous phase.
When collecting data to determine temporal trends ~ ambient concentra-
tions, one should analyze sediments, not water, and deterimine sediment
transport, not water Dow. This has not routinely been part of the U S.
monitoring program, so available trend data do not exist before the early
1970s.
There has been a considerable amount of effort spent on determining
trends in concentrations of these organochlorine compounds in humans
and natural fish and wildlife populations. Although there has been a rise
in U.S. production of pesticides in the last 20 years, the concentrations
of DDT dropped significantly, and the levels of dieldrin remained low
in human diets during this same time interval (Conservation Foundation,
1984~. Figure 4 shows the trend for DDT and dieldrin for fish and bird
populations. Again, there is a consistent reduction, except for dieldrin in
waterfowl. The 1985 Report on Great Lakes Water Quality presented data
for bloater chubs, lake trout, and herring gull eggs. The reductions in body
concentrations are correlated with sharp reductions in U.S. production and
use of these compounds. The majority of the inputs of PCBs into the
surface waters of the Great Lakes are airborne materials emanating from
municipal and industrial incinerators which are currently ret ycling through
the ecosytem.
In general, once a toxic compound is found in concentrations that
raise immediate concerns for public health or the integrity of the eco-
logical resource, actions have been taken that have reduced the ambient
concentrations of the toxicant. Often, this means a ban or a very restricted
use of the product. For those products that remain in use, the industrial
expenditures on pollution control are considerable.
A form of environmental pollution in the United States of particular
social concern is groundwater contamination. With both state and federal
("Superfund") resources, all states have instituted major programs to char-
acterize the quality of their groundwater resources. The USGS monitors
the distribution of rural groundwater contamination in the United States.
Each year the number of aquifers identified as contaminated has systemat-
ically increased. However, this may not reflect an increase in the frequency
of new pollution events; rather, this trend is the result of the increasing
effort being spent on groundwater surveys. Most presently contaminated
aquifers have contained pollutants for decades.
Many of the organic contaminants found in surface waters are not
major constituents in groundwater. The partitioning coefficients for these
compounds are high, and the compounds are bound to the particulates
in the soil matrix and are generally not found in the aqueous phase.
This limits their mobility through soils and protects aquifers from surface
308
o 240
lo
11
can
a)
-
IL
3
x
A
200
160
120
80
40
o
1968 1970 1-972
. .
o
lo
'~ 300
'
X
LL
C]
he
ECOLOG CAL RISKS
; Dieldrin
. v .
Fish . .
_ 1 1
1974 1976 1978
YEAR
1- '
200
150
100
50
o
- Waterfowl
A. Starlings
~ I I 1
DOT
-. Fish
___ 1 _ ~ __ _ 1 1 —
1968 1970 1972
~ _
1980 1982
Waterfowl
Starlings
1974 1976 1978 1980 1982
YEAR
FIGURE 4 fiends in levels of dieldnn and DDT in wildlife, 19681979. Data from U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Sentence. State of the Environment, 1981; a report from the Conservation
Foundation.
sources. The most common organic contaminants in groundwater are
organic solvents. PCBs and dioxins move through the soil matrix only when
they are comingled with organic solvents like TCE or DCE.
Klepper et al. (1987) summarized the major sources of contaminants to
groundwater (Table 3~. Underground gasoline storage tanks and poorly de-
signed landfills are dominant sources of organic contaminants. Uncovered
storage of salt for ice removal in the winter months is a major inorganic
source. In some areas, the production and transport of petroleum products
are also major sources. Landfills are obviously the source of the greatest
array of chemical contaminants that enter groundwaters.
IMPACTS ON AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
TABLE 3 Rural groundwater contamination. Major contaminants associated with known
groundwater contamination incidents, excluding urban-heavy manufacturing incidents.
309
Contaminant LF DMP GUSI AGR CUSI AGT OIL PET SALT
Benzene
Xylenes
Toluenes
Ethylbenzenes
Cadmium
Chromium
Copper
Lead
Nickel
Zinc
Cyanide
Arsenic
Phenols
Dichloroethanes
Trichloroethanes
Trichloroethylene
Tetrachloroethylene
Naphthalenes
Chloroform
Hexachlorobenzene
PCBs
Phthalates
Paint Residues
Nitrate
Pesticides
Salt/Brine
. . ~ .
LF = Landfill; DMP = Dump; GUSI - Gasoline Underground Storage; AGR = Agriculture;
CUSI = Chemical Underground Storage; AGT = Above Ground Tanks; OIL = Oil Transport;
PET = Oil Field Operations; SALT = Salt Storage.
Data from Klepper et al., 1987.
TRENDS IN WATER QUALITY IN POLAND
In Chapter 19 (this volume), Gromiec presents the current river classi-
fication for Poland (see Figure 6~. A majority of the major rivers in Poland
are currently experiencing serious degradation of water quality. Untreated
municipal waste streams, salt-water discharges from coal mines, direct in-
dustrial discharges, and nonpoint inputs from agriculture are all identified
as major sources (see Chapter 19, Figure 1~. As approximately one-half of
the areas of the major rivers are classified as either Class III (industrial use
310
ECOLOGICAL RISKS
TABLE 4 Distribution of 230 natural lakes in Poland studied in 1974-1983, in
categories of lake susceptibility to degradation.
Category
Number of lakes Percent (%)
1st 24 10
2nd 103 45
3rd 66 29
out of 3rd category 37 16
TOTAL 230 100
SOURCE: Cydzik et al., 1982; Cydzik and Soszka, 1988.
only) or nonclassified (pretreatment required before any direct use), pollu-
tion of the riverine resources is currently a major environmental problem
in Poland.
In Chapter 17 (this volume), Hillbricht-ILkowska presents several clas-
sification systems that are presently being used to assess trends in water
quality for fresh water lakes in Poland. Hillbricht-ILkowska also provides
data for trend analyses for several of the larger lakes in Poland.
Able 4 presents the results of class~ing 230 natural lakes in terms
of their susceptibility to anthropogenic degradation. The parameters that
determine the ranking include lake morphometry, persistence of stratifi-
cation, residency time of water, presence of point-source pollution, and
the intensity of land use in the riparian watershed. Category 1 represents
lakes that are expected to be most resistant to eutrophication, and "out of
Category 3" represents lakes that are seriously threatened. About 45% of
Polish lakes are moderately susceptible to eutrophication, and an additional
45% are rather highly susceptible. Many of these lakes are in the Masurian
Lake District and support an important tourist industry.
Another classification system was utilized to examine 221 Polish lakes
in terms of existing conditions of water quality Cable 5~. This system relies
on spring and summer measurements of 18 parameters like nutrient and
dissolved oxygen concentrations, transparency (SD), chlorophyll, and other
values (see Chapter 17, Able 4~.
Approximately one-quarter (26%) of the volume of the examined
lakes are currently mesotrophic, and these include most of the largest
and deepest lakes in Poland (these data refer to lakes examined in the
years 1973-1979~. Fifty-six percent of the lakes by number, and 41% of
the surface waters by volume, are currently experiencing a serious level of
water quality degradation. This results in frequent fish kills, permanent
IMPACTS ON AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
TABLE S Distribution of 221 Polish lakes, 1974-1983; classified by state of water quality.
Number of Lakes Lake Volume
number percent volume percent
Class (Jo) (10 m ) (%)
1. lst and intermediate 20 9 2126701 26
between 1st and 2nd
2. 2nd end intermediate 77 35 2606 131 33
between 2nd and 3rd
3. 3rd 70 32 1 808469 24
4. Out of classification 54 24 1 308 469 17
311
TOTAL 221 100 - 7 898 907 100
SOURCE: Cydzik et al., 1982; Cydzik and Soszka, 1988
TABLE 6 Percentage distribution of the number of 50 Polish lakes according to the yearly
load of total P (L,p, g m~2 lake area yet), share (%) of the point sources in Lop, and relation
to the permissible and dangerous load based on Vollenweider's critena.
% of point
Lop % of sources In % of % of
(g m~2 yr~l) lakes Lop lakes Lap is: lakes
< 0.1 20 0-10 53 ~ permissible 26
0.2~.9 54 20-50 17 2 permissible 20
~ dangerous
2 1.0 26 2 60 30 2 dangerous 54
_
SOURCE: Hillbncht-lLlcowska, 1984.
anaerobic conditions in the hypolimnion, and dense blooms of green and
blue-green algae in surface waters.
Although 45% of the lakes are considered highly susceptible to eu-
trophication (Bible 4), 56% of the lakes have already experienced serious
degradation Amble 5~. A primary cause of this increased rate;of lake
eutrophication is presented in Table 6. The loading of total phosphorus
(L~p) is considered to be the most important stimulus of lake degradation.
Fifty-four percent of the lakes are currently experiencing dangerous levels
of inputs and 60% of the Lop is from point sources in 30%0 of the lakes.
Those are potentially treatable sources that should be given immediate
attention.
Itend data exist for three lakes in Poland (Table 7~. Lake Hancza is the
312
ECOLOGICAL RISKS
TABLE 7 Trends in transparency (SI:)) in three Polish lakes*
Lake Hancza Lake Mikolajskie Lake Mamry
Date SD (m) Date SD (m) Date SD (m)
925 7.5 1950 2.~-3 5 1950 4.6
1931 65 1957 3.0 19S6 4.3-6.5
1935 8.2 1958 2.7 1957 5.1
1955 8.3 1967 1.5-2.2 1958 3.3
1956 7.9 1971 1.~2.0 1968 5.5
1957 8.0 1972 1.0-2.0 1972 55
1958 5.5 1976 1.3-1.7 1976 5.1-5.8
1977 go- 1977 1.1 1977 5.5
1984 8.5 1984 1.5 1978 3.8
1986 1.3 1986 4.3
1987 1.2
~ . . .
*Data selected from Hillbricht-Ilkowska, 1988; Zdanowski et al., 1984;
Hillbricht-Ilkowska, in press.
deepest lake in Poland (108.5 m) and has a surface area of 311.4 ha. The
annual total phosphorus loading is 0.066 g m~2y~i (Hillbricht-ILkowska,
in press), which is below the permissible level. The lake has maintained
a mesotrophic state for the last 60 years. Consistent high transparency
measurement and high summer hypolimnetic oxygen concentrations of 8.0-
10.0 ppm support this nondegredation trend.
Lake Mikolajskie, on the other hand, is 28 m deep, with a surface
area of 460 ha. This lake currently receives an annual phosphorus loading
of 0.77 g m~2y~i, which is four times the permissible load based on
Vollenweider's criteria. The predicted load for 1990 increases to 1.63 g
m~2y~i due to estimated increases in tourism and agricultural uses of
fertilizers (Giercuszkiewicz-Bajtlik et al., 1983~. The transparency data
(Bible 7) indicate an eutrophic state existed in 1950 and has degraded
even further in the last four decades. Chorophyll concentrations have also
increased from 14.2 fig l-: In 1973 to 51.8 ,ug l-i in 1986 (Hillbricht-
ILkowska, 1988~.
Lake MamIy is one of the largest lakes in Poland, with an area
of 2504 ha and a maximum depth of 43.8 m. The total phosphorus
loading is 0.06 g m~2yr~~, which is well below the estimated permissible
load (Giercuszkiewicz-Bajtlik et al., 1983~. The transparency data show a
consistent trend of mesotrophy over the 36-year period Cable 7~; however,
according to Gliwicz and Kowalczewsl~i (1981), there is a visible increase
of oxygen deficit in the hypolimnion.
The trend data support the notion that external phosphorus loading
IMPACTS ON AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
313
from anthropogenic sources is the primary stimulus of lake eutrophication
in Poland. Unfortunately, there are no data on heavy metals and synthetic
organics to evaluate the toxic chemical loadings to these lakes. Thus,
there is real need to expand the lake monitoring program to include toxic
chemicals in addition to the cultural eutrophication.
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314
ECOLOGICAL RISKS
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