Toxic cyanobacterial blooms in a drinking water reservoir - causes, consequences and management strategy

Eutrophication of reservoirs used for drinking water supplies is a very common problem, particularly in lowland reservoirs. Long water retention time (60-120 days) favours cyanobacterial bloom occurrence in Sulejów Reservoir, Poland. The localisation of the water intake in a bay exposed to north-east winds favoured the Microcystis bloom accumulation, which formed a 0.5 m thick dense scum for the first time in September 1999. Cyanobacterial hepatotoxins can pose a potential health problem because the presence of about 0.8 μg/l microcystins was detected in drinking water during three series of analysis. An investigation of the efficiency of each stage of water treatment processes in the elimination of microcystins showed that pre-chlorination, coagulation, and rapid sand filtration were ineffective in removing microcystins from water. Significant elimination was observed after ozonation and chlorination. The concentration of microcystins in bloom material was between 12 to 860 μg/g dry weight of phytoplankton biomass. Management strategies for reservoirs should consider the important role of ecohydrological processes, which are often very easy to regulate, and which can be useful for bio-manipulation of the water ecosystem.