Abstract
Beira Lake, in the heart of Colombo City in Sri Lanka, is a prominent landmark, serving a variety of important services such as flood control, and providing habitat and nesting grounds for the city’s wildlife. During the past decades, Beira Lake has become highly polluted due to anthropogenic activities. The majority of the past restoration attempts failed, revealing a lack of understanding of the pollutant intricacies. The objective of this study is to investigate the trophic status of all four basins of the lake to investigate the pollution status. Thirty-nine sampling locations were randomly selected based on a 100 × 100 m grid covering the entire lake for water quality sampling. Water quality index (WQI) and trophic level index (TLI) were calculated to further investigate the pollution scenarios. WQI, total nitrogen, total phosphorous, Secchi depth, and Chlorophyll-a were considered to calculate the TLI of the lake. As per the WQI, more than 93% of the lake’s surface area is in poor condition. The TLI reveals the hypereutrophic status of the lake water. According to principal component analysis, eutrophication and algal bloom index observed can be due to the heavy anthropogenic activities and land use patterns around the catchment indicating a high possibility of untreated effluent entering the lake through the active inlets. The effluent entering the lake should be managed immediately to prevent further deterioration of the entire lake. Immediate restoration of the lake is recommended, as the hypereutrophic state may lead to irreversible an imbalance in the lake ecosystem.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of data and materials
The data and materials used in this study are available upon request.
Abbreviations
- BOD5 :
-
Biochemical oxygen demand
- CEA:
-
Central Environmental Authority
- Chl-a:
-
Chlorophyll-a
- COD:
-
Chemical oxygen demand
- DO:
-
Dissolved oxygen
- EC:
-
Electrical conductivity
- PC:
-
Principal component
- PCA:
-
Principal component analysis
- TDS:
-
Total dissolved solids
- TLI:
-
Trophic level index
- TSI:
-
Trophic state index
- WQI:
-
Water quality index
References
Abbasi T, Abbasi SA (2012) Water quality indices. Elsevier
Abdi H (2010) Partial least squares regression and projection on latent structure regression (PLS Regression). Wiley Interdiscip Rev Comput Stat 2(1):97–106. https://doi.org/10.1002/wics.51
Acharya UR, Sree SV, Alvin APC, Suri JS (2012) Use of principal component analysis for automatic classification of epileptic EEG activities in wavelet framework. Expert Syst Appl 39(10):9072–9078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2012.02.040
Al-Badaii F, Shuhaimi-Othman M, Gasim MB (2013) Water quality assessment of the Semenyih river, Selangor, Malaysia. J Chem 2013:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/871056
Brönmark C, Hansson LA (2001) The biology of lakes and ponds. Oxford University Press
Burns NM, Rutherford JC, Clayton JS (1999) A monitoring and classification system for New Zealand lakes and reservoirs. Lake Reserv Manag 15(4):255–271. https://doi.org/10.1080/07438149909354122
Di Blasi JP, Torres JM, Nieto PG, Fernández JA, Muñiz CD, Taboada J (2013) Analysis and detection of outliers in water quality parameters from different automated monitoring stations in the Miño river basin (NW Spain). Ecol Eng 60:60–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2013.07.054
Carlson RE (1977) A trophic state index for lakes. Limnol Oceanogr 22(2):361–369. https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.1977.22.2.0361
Dissanayake L, Pereira R (1996) Restoring beira lake - an integrated urban environmental planning experience in Colombo, Sri Lanka (English). Metropolitan Environmental Improvement Program (MEIP), World Bank Group, Washington, D.C. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/393731468759870602/Restoring-Beira-Lake-an-integrated-urban-environmental-planning-experience-in-Colombo-Sri-Lanka
Egbe AM, Tabot PT, Fonge BA, Ngole-Jeme VM (2023) Heavy metal exposure risk associated with ingestion of Oreochromis niloticus and Coptodon kottae harvested from a lacustrine ecosystem. Environ Monit Assess 195(3):427. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-10936-0
El-Serehy HA, Abdallah HS, Al-Misned FA, Al-Farraj SA, Al-Rasheid KA (2018) Assessing water quality and classifying trophic status for scientifically based managing the water resources of the Lake Timsah, the lake with salinity stratification along the Suez Canal. Saudi J Biol Sci 25(7):1247–1256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sjbs.2018.05.022
French TD, Petticrew EL (2007) Chlorophyll a seasonality in four shallow eutrophic lakes (northern British Columbia, Canada) and the critical roles of internal phosphorus loading and temperature. Hydrobiologia 575:285–299. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-006-0377-8
Hamed Y, Hadji R, Redhaounia B, Zighmi K, Bâali F, Gayar AE (2018) Climate impact on surface and groundwater in North Africa: a global synthesis of findings and recommendations. Euro-Mediterr J Environ Integr 3:25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41207-018-0067-8
Horton RK (1965) An index number system for rating water quality. J Water Pollut Control Feder 37:300–306. http://www.scirp.org/(S(i43dyn45teexjx455qlt3d2q
Kamaladasa AI, Jayatunga YNA (2007) Composition, density and distribution of zooplankton in South West and East Lakes of Beira Lake soon after the restoration of South West Lake. Ceylon J Sci (Biol Sci) 36(1):1–7
Kükrer S, Mutlu E (2019) Assessment of surface water quality using water quality index and multivariate statistical analyses in Saraydüzü Dam Lake, Turkey. Environ Monit Assess 191:1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7197-6
Liu H, He B, Zhou Y, Kutser T, Toming K, Feng Q, Yang X, Fu C, Yang F, Li W, Peng F (2022) Trophic state assessment of optically diverse lakes using sentinel-3-derived trophic level index. Int J Appl Earth Obs Geoinf 114:103026
MCUDP (2016) Metro Colombo urban development project. MCUDP. https://mcudp.lk
Menberu Z, Mogesse B, Reddythota D (2021) Evaluation of water quality and eutrophication status of Hawassa Lake based on different water quality indices. Appl Water Sci 11:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-021-01385-6
Parparov A, Hambright KD (2007) Composite water quality: evaluation and management feedbacks. Water Qual Res J 42(1):20–25. https://doi.org/10.2166/wqrj.2007.004
Ratnayake AS, Ratnayake NP, Sampei Y, Vijitha AVP, Jayamali SD (2018) Seasonal and tidal influence for water quality changes in coastal Bolgoda Lake system, Sri Lanka. J Coast Conserv 22:1191–1199. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-018-0628-7
Razmkhah H, Abrishamchi A, Torkian A (2010) Evaluation of spatial and temporal variation in water quality by pattern recognition techniques: a case study on Jajrood River (Tehran, Iran). J Environ Manag 91(4):852–860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2009.11.001
Sarkar C, Abbasi SA (2006) QUALIDEX–a new software for generating water quality indices. Environ Monit Assess 119(1–3):201–231. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-005-9023-6
Sarma K, Vishnu Vardhan R (2018) Multivariate statistics made simple. CRC Press
Sivakumar D, Thiruvengadam M, Anand R, Ponpandian M (2014) Suitability of groundwater around Pallavaram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Pollut Res EM Int 33(3):43–48
Sutadian AD, Muttil N, Yilmaz AG, Perera BJC (2018) Development of a water quality index for rivers in West Java Province, Indonesia. Ecol Ind 85:966–982. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.11.049
Ter Braak CJF, Smilauer P (2002) CANOCO reference manual and CanoDraw for Windows user’s guide: Software for canonical community ordination (version 4.5), Microcomputer Power (Ithaca), New York
Trifonova TA, Chesnokova SM, Savele OV (2021) Evaluation of the trophic level and self-cleaning ability of small flows by hydrochemical indicators (through the example of the Rpen River). South of Russia: ecology, development. https://doi.org/10.18470/1992-1098-2021-2-88-97
Uddin MG, Nash S, Olbert AI (2021) A review of water quality index models and their use for assessing surface water quality. Ecol Ind 122:107218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.107218
Ustaoğlu F, Tepe Y (2019) Water quality and sediment contamination assessment of Pazarsuyu Stream, Turkey using multivariate statistical methods and pollution indicators. Int Soil Water Conserv Res 7(1):47–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iswcr.2018.09.001
Vadde KK, Wang J, Cao L, Yuan T, McCarthy AJ, Sekar R (2018) Assessment of water quality and identification of pollution risk locations in Tiaoxi River (Taihu Watershed). China Water 10(2):183. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10020183
Wan Abdul Ghani WMH, Abas Kutty A, Mahazar MA, Al-Shami SA, Ab Hamid S (2018) Performance of biotic indices in comparison to chemical-based Water Quality Index (WQI) in evaluating the water quality of urban river. Environ Monit Assess 190:1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-018-6675-6
Weerasinghe VPA, Handapangoda K (2019) Surface water quality analysis of an urban lake; East Beira, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Environ Nanotechnol Monit Manag 12:100249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enmm.2019.100249
Wu Z, Zhang D, Cai Y, Wang X, Zhang L, Chen Y (2017) Water quality assessment based on the water quality index method in Lake Poyang: the largest freshwater lake in China. Sci Rep 7(1):17999. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-18285-y
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the support extended by the Sri Lanka Land Development Corporation for the support extended toward this study in numerous ways.
Funding
This research did not receive any funding.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
DD contributed to field visits, sample collection and laboratory analyses of water quality, data analysis and writing the manuscript. RG was involved in field visits, sample collection and laboratory analyses of water quality, data analysis and writing the manuscript. SH contributed to field visits, sample collection, and data analysis and writing the manuscript. SK contributed to field visits, data analysis, review and writing the manuscript. BA was involved in field visits, data analysis, review and writing the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
There are no competing interests to declare.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Handling Editor: S. S. S. Sarma.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Dharmarathna, D., Galagedara, R., Himanujahn, S. et al. Assessment of pollution state of Beira Lake in Sri Lanka using water quality index, trophic status, and principal component analysis. Aquat Ecol 58, 159–174 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-023-10052-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-023-10052-8