Ecological Functioning of the Seine River: From Long-Term Modelling Approaches to High-Frequency Data Analysis
Résumé
At the start of the PIREN-Seine program, organic pollution by the effluent of the Parisian conurbation was responsible for episodic anoxia in the lower Seine River, while nutrients from both point and diffuse sources are used to cause eutrophication, a nuisance for drinking water production from surface water and biodiversity. The implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive led to a drastic decrease of organic carbon, phosphorus and ammonium concentrations in surface waters starting in the early 2000s and to a reduction of the frequency and the amplitude of phytoplankton blooms. However, nitrate contamination from fertiliser-intensive agriculture continued to increase or at best levelled off, threatening groundwater resources and causing unbalanced nutrient ratios at the coastal zone where eutrophication still results in harmful algal blooms. High-frequency O2 data combined with models, which have been developed for 30 years, can help discriminate the contribution of auto- vs. heterotrophic metabolism in the CO2 supersaturation observed in the Seine River. Despite the impressive improvement in water quality of the Seine River, episodic crises such as summer low-flow conditions still threaten the good ecological status of both river and coastal waters. Modelling scenarios, including further wastewater treatments and structural changes in agriculture and future changes in hydrology under climate changes, provide the basis for a future vision of the ecological functioning of the Seine River network.
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