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Water
49
As noted earlier with river quality,
there is no room for complacency
in terms of lake water quality, with
only 46.6% of the monitored lakes
achieving the targets of the WFD.
A reduction in the total amount of
nutrients delivered to lakes via their
tributary rivers is a key focus of the
WFD programme of measures.
The EPA is working towards a
set of phosphorus loading limits
for individual lakes, based on an
extensive new set of bathymetric
measurements made over recent
years that will allow volume and
residence time of water in these
lakes to be calculated and, thus,
phosphorus loadings in terms of
annual targets. Programmes of
measures to achieve these new limits
will need to be more focused than
current measures, and to bring about
further improvements in lake water
quality. As with the rivers feeding
into the lakes, these measures will
focus on nutrient sources, both point
source and diffuse.
Figure 4.6
Comparison of Ireland’s Lake-Water Quality with that of Selected Other European Countries
(Ireland is shown in green) (Source: EEA)
Total Phosphorus (mgl/P)
Chlorophyll a (µg/l)
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
RO
ES
GB
DE
LV
PL
CY
EE
SI
LT
CH
FI
IE
IS
NO
0
10
20
30
40
RO
LV
PL
HU
GB
FI
DE
EE
ES
LT
CH
IE
SI
CY
IS
Nitrate (mg/l N)
Ammonia (mg l/N)
0.0
0.3
0.6
0.9
1.2
1.5
GB
DE
RO
CH
ES
LV
SI
CY
IE
FI
EE
LT
PL
NO
IS
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
DE
ES
RO
CY
HU
CH
PL
SI
LT
LV
FI
EE
IE
GB
NO
IS