Threat to lake Baikal algae has already captured almost 60% of the coast
MOSCOW, 13 APR — RIA Novosti. The coast of lake Baikal for almost 60% covered with algae a threat Spirogyra, pollution of the coastal zone catastrophic, warns the center “Antistikhia”.
“Pollution of the coastal zone of lake Baikal took catastrophic proportions. About 60% of the coast is covered by Spirogyra — Alga, characteristic of warm, stagnant water, formerly in the lake almost never encountered,” reads the document available to the RIA Novosti.
Experts of the center say that, according to the Limnological Institute of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, “a special danger to the ecosystem of lake Baikal is the process “hidden eutrophication” shallow and zapasowych zones under the influence of excess nutrients, primarily nitrogen and phosphorus, which is related to the discharge of untreated wastewater and the use of detergents containing phosphates”.
“Although planned in the years 2017-2022 commissioning of new and reconstruction of existing treatment plants and sewage pumping stations, currently existing municipal wastewater treatment plants do not provide adequate degree of purification”, — the document says.
Baikal is one of the greatest lakes on the planet, a lake of “superlatives”: the deepest (1637 meters), the oldest (25 million years), with the most diverse flora and fauna among freshwater reservoirs. The lake is unique in terms of quality and supply of freshwater (23.6 thousand cubic kilometers — more than 20% of world reserves). In 1996, the pond was included in the UNESCO world natural heritage site by UNESCO.