Interaction of water quantity with water quality: the Lake Chapala example

Lind, Owen T.
Dávalos-Lind, L. O.

¹ Limnology Laboratory, Biology Department, Baylor University, USA.
² The Chapala Ecology Station, Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara and Baylor University, Waco, TX, 76798, U.S.A.

Hydrobiologia 467(3):p 159-167, January 2002. | DOI: 10.1023/A:1014902630410

Abstract

Water quality may be significantly determined by water quantity. Lake Chapala, México is a large lake beset with numerous water quality problems. The decline in water volume over the past 20 years, a serious problem itself, is associated with causing or enhancing several problems of quality. Five such problems are explored herein. These are: extensive infestations of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), a declining native fishery, light limitation of phytoplankton production at the base of the food chain, shallow-water algal blooms resulting in water supply treatment problems, and the presence of toxic metals in the harvested and sold fishes.