Short-term responses of nutrients and algal biomass in a eutrophic shallow lake to different scales of water transfer

Abstract

With the expansion of water transfer projects worldwide, the original hydrological and physicochemical states of the systems receiving the transferred water have experienced dynamic temporal and spatial changes, especially shallow lakes with that are more vulnerable to these changes. Understanding the short-term response of lakes to human-managed water transfer events can provide specific information on the seasonal regularity and long-term evolution pattern of lakes. The present study selected an annual water transfer event that is uniform and relatively independent. Then, field monitoring was conducted, and a hydrodynamic-eutrophication model was established to investigate the effects of the water transfer scales and regulation on TN, TP and algal biomass in Lake Nansi, a main regulating lake on the eastern route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project (SNWDP-ER), China. The results showed that the timing of the water transfer event had an important effect on the enrichment of algal biomass. When the water transfer occurred in the spring, algal growth increased, but the reverse occurred in the summer. Under a high P concentration and the current management regulations (TP 0.05 mg/L), an algal bloom resulted in 21 % and 22 % increases in Chl-a and TP in the receiving system. When the inflow rate increased to the maximum level (100 m³/s), the algal biomass in the first mixing zone was briefly diluted, but the subsequent deterioration in water quality in the first mixing zone was more significant. Sixty days after the water transfer event began, the proportion of middle eutrophication (26 ≤ Chl-a < 160 μg/L) increased from 84 % to 92 %. The results emphasize the importance of water transfer scales on water quality in shallow lakes and provide a reference for determining the long-term stability and maintenance of specific ecosystems and optimization of water transfer practices.

Keywords: Algal biomass; Nutrients; Shallow lake; Short-term response; Water transfer project.