A preliminary assessment of the water and air quality parameters in and around the Lake Yeniçağa coast

A preliminary assessment of the water and air quality parameters in and around the Lake Yeniçağa coast

Abstract The Lake Yeniçağa is located in the interiors of Western Black Sea, within the borders of the city Bolu and in the north of the town Yeniçağa. It is just in the middle of the Çağa Depression 285 km away from Istanbul and 153 km from Ankara. The Çağa Creek with its 8 branches (Hamzabey, Güzviran, Kaymaz, Ömerli, Kirenli, Fındıklı, Aksu and Kayışlar) flows into the lake. Of these branches, Kaymaz, Ömerli, Kirenli and Fındıklı drift the pollutants from TEM highway, Güzviran the ones from D-100 highway and in addition Hamzabey and Aksu drift agricultural wastes into the lake. This study provides prelimary results obtained from water and lichen samples collected from the Lake Yeniçağa and its surroundings, located in the interiors of Western Black Sea, within the borders of the city Bolu. We aimed to highlight some indicators of pollution parameters, including the quality of water and air in and around the lake, on the basis of ICP-AES and ion chromatography (IC) analysis as well as several measurements results. The results obtained showed an increase in Cl- and NH4 levels. In particular, Cl-, NO3-3 and SO4-2 in the sample taken from the south of the lake littoral are at two or three times higher amounts. Moreover, some concentration of NO2- and NH4 was detected, which was not identified in the other samples.As a result of analyses of two different lichens (Xanthoria parietina and Diploschistes scruposus) carried out to investigate the effect of traffic load on the air quality around the lake, it was observed that the amounts of Fe and Al markedly increased, suggesting a negative effect of traffic-related particles on the area.