Area reduction and trace element pollution in Nile Delta wetland ecosystems

Abstract

The three main Nile Delta wetland ecosystems, Manzala, Burullus and Edku lagoons, are among the most ecologically important and productive habitats in Egypt. We studied the area degradation and the human health risks associated with trace metal accumulation in Tilapia zillii harvested from these lakes. The area of Manzala lagoon has shrunken from about 3035 km2 in 1800 to about 288 km2 in 2015, the area of Edku has shrunken from about 336 km2 in 1824 to about 18 km2 in 2014, and the area of Burullus has shrunken from about 1116 km2 in 1949 to about 546 km2 in 2014. This area degradation is attributed to drying for housing, land reclamation and fish farming. As a result, the concentration of pollutants and nutrients has subsequently increased, and large parts of the lakes have been overgrown with aquatic vegetation, which increased the rate of degradation and land transformation. Metal pollution was detected in water, sediment and edible fish harvested from the lakes. The hazard index, an indicator of human health risks associated with fish consumption, showed adverse health effects of zinc and lead metals for habitual fish consumers. The impact of the high dam on the lakes was discussed.

The impact of some anthropogenic activities on river Nile delta wetland ecosystems

“…The fi gure indicates that water body areas of Manzala has decreased from 3035 mk 2 in 1800 to 1983 km 2 in 1889, meanwhile, the lagoonal area of Edku lake has decreased from 336.4 km 2 in 1826 to 210 km 2 in 1889; this reduction had occurred before the construction of the oldest dam, as the construction of the fi rst Aswan dam was in 1902. Furthermore, the area of Manzala lake had increased from 1323 km 2 in 1953 to 1441 km 2 in 1973 [5], while the High Dam was constructed in 1964.on the other hand, no signifi cant reduction in Edku lake area has been reported since 1973 ( Figure 2). Concerning Burullus lagoon, we have no available information about its area change before 1949.…”

“…However, wetland ecosystem comprised three brackish lagoons.The three lakes share several common characteristics. Each lake is separated from the open Mediterranean Sea by a sand bar along its northern edge, but remains connected to the sea by one or more outlets locally known as 'boghaz'; recent maps are given by El-Shazly et al [5]. The lakes are extremely shallow, with an average depth ranging between 0.4 and 2.0 m. There are also several large and small islands disrupting the water body of each lake.…”

Tackling the Trickle: Ensuring Sustainable Water Management in the Arab Region

“…Nitrogen losses from manured agricultural lands to freshwater courses are about 25% of the applied fertilizer, much greater than the global average of 11%, while phosphate releases to the environment are about 12% of the phosphorus applied as fertilizer, in line with a global average of 12% (Mateo‐Sagasta et al, 2018). High concentrations of nitrogen, phosphate, and other nutrients result in eutrophic lakes, reservoirs, and coastal waters along the Mediterranean coast of Morocco (Bocci et al, 2016), the Red Sea (Jessen et al, 2013), and the Nile Delta (Oczkowski & Nixon 2008; El‐Shazly et al, 2017).…”

Flame atomic absorption spectrometric determination of heavy metals in aqueous solution and surface water preceded by co-precipitation procedure with copper(II) 8-hydroxyquinoline

“…The contamination of the three lagoons occurred as a result of heavily polluted drainage wastewaters from urban agricultural and industrial sources. The concentrations of Cd(II) and Pb(II) as shown in Table 6 were reported to be higher such that aquatic organism tend to accumulate them in the tissue (El-Shazly et al 2016). The high concentrations of Ni(II) and Pb(II) in Tampamachoco lagoon in Mexico was attributed to fuel oil discharge water rich in heavy metals that flowed from a thermal power plant into the lagoon water.…”