Evaluation of Water Quality in Shallow Lakes, Case Study of Lake Uluabat

Abstract

Lake Uluabat, located 20 km south of the Marmara Sea, between 42° 12' North latitude, 28° 40'East longitude and is located in the province of Bursa. The Lake is one of the richest lakes in terms of aquatic plants besides fish and bird populations in Turkey. In this study, water quality of the Lake was monitored from June 2008 to May 2009 during the 12 month period with the samples taken from 8 points in the lake and spatial and temporal variations of the parameters were examined. pH, temperature (T), electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen (DO), suspended solids (SS), secchi depth (SD), water level (WL), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N), total nitrogen (TN), phosphate-phosphorus (PO4-P), total phosphorus (TP), alkalinity, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) were the monitoring parameters. As a result, concentrations of the parameters were found at high levels especially the 1st, 4th, 5th, and 8th stations and temporally were found at high levels often in the summer. According to the results of analysis of variance, regional and temporal variations of all parameters were found important except SS and NO3-N

Keywords

• Spatial changes, Water quality, Lake Uluabat, Temporal changes