Water quality and aquatic ecosystems of irrigation runoff lakes in Khorezm, Uzbekistan

摘要

Human activities along the Amu Darya River have damaged aquatic ecosystemsof the Aral Sea Basin. The Khorezm province in northwest Uzbekistan is a productiveagricultural area within the basin. The landscape is dotted with small lakes that haveformed in natural depressions that receive irrigation runoff water. This study assesses thewater quality and ecology of some of these lakes to determine their suitability as sourcesof irrigation water and income generation from fish production. Since May 2006, waterquality and aquatic food web data have been collected and analyzed from 13 of theselakes. Lake salinity ranged from 1 to more than 10 g/L. Few hydrophobic organiccontaminants were found in samples collected during the peak of the 2006 growingseason, and aquatic species diversity and relative density were low in most lakes.Ongoing research includes estimation of aquatic food web structure and anthropogenicimpacts on the ecosystem.