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A study of the Yesilirmak River catchment in Northern Turkey: spatial patterns and temporal trends in water quality

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journal contribution
posted on 2013-01-01, 00:00 authored by L Jin, P Whitehead, Michalis HadjikakouMichalis Hadjikakou
This paper presents a comprehensive study of spatial and temporal patterns of water chemistry (1995-2008) in the Yesilirmak
River catchment in Northern Turkey. Biological oxygen demand (BOD), dissolved oxygen (DO) and nutrient
concentrations (nitrogen and phosphorus) are variable across the catchment because the upland areas are relatively undisturbed,
and the lower catchment is dominated by urban, industrial and agricultural inputs. Seasonally, high nutrient
concentrations occur in winter possibly due to flushing from the soil zone. Low summer flow and reduced dilution lead
to high orthophosphate concentrations. However, denitrification seems to be more significant than dilution processes
and this generates low nitrate concentrations in summer. Nutrient levels since 1995 do not show a significant upward
trend. The current water quality status indicates that the river system is in poor condition. The majority of sites fall in
the Turkish water classification class II-III and more than half fail the EU standards because of high nutrient concentrations.
In order to improve the status of water quality to achieve good chemical and ecological status, there is clearly a
need to improve pollution control within the river system by installing waste water treatment plants, while keeping the
agricultural pollution to a minimum in the system.

History

Journal

Journal of environmental protection

Volume

04

Issue

07

Pagination

104 - 120

Publisher

Scientific Research Publishing

Location

Irvine, Calif.

ISSN

2152-2197

eISSN

2152-2219

Language

eng

Publication classification

C Journal article; C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2013, The Authors

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