NATURAL SCIENCES

Journal of fundamental
and
applied researches

Pollution by phosphate concentrationin lake Mariut (Alexandria, Egypt)

2012. №4, pp. 45-48

Khalifa Moataz Mokhammed - post-graduate student, Astrakhan State University, 1 Shaumyan Sq., Astrakhan, 414000, Russian Federation, m_khalifa@yahoo.com

Kondrashin Ruslan V. - Ph.D. (Geography), Assistant Professor, Astrakhan State University, 1 Shaumyan Sq., Astrakhan, 414000, Russian Federation, estnauki2009@rambler.ru

In recent years, Lake Mariut (Alexandria, Egypt) has suffered from intensive pollution, although at one time it was a highly productive lake. This pollution has resulted from the continuous growth in the human population and industry around the Lake. Lake Mariut continuously receives vast amounts of untreated domestic sewage and industrial wastes. Considerable amounts of pesticides and fertilizers also enter into the Lake via drainage waters. The liberation of autochthonous phosphate from the decomposition of dead phytoplankton also increases the phosphate content of the water body. Consequently, the Lake was subjected to heavy enrichment of nutrients, predominantly phosphates. The present investigation was carried out to measure the influence of pollution on the concentration and distribution of phosphates in Lake Mariut. This study, and related ones, provide data which can predict the eutrophic development of other Egyptian lakes with similar pollution problems.

Key words: pollution,geo-ecology,ecology,Lake Mariut,Egypt