Water pollutants

Water pollutants primarily originating from anthropogenic sources impair the ability of lakes and reservoirs to support a human use, such as drinking water, or greatly affect biotic communities, such as fish and other constituents of the food web. Algal blooms and the proliferation of toxic algae and cyanobacteria are also water pollutants that cause major changes in water quality and the ecological status of lentic and lotic ecosystems. Here, we describe two major sources of anthropogenic pollutants in Lake Kinneret: pesticides originated from agricultural activities and fecal indicators originated from domestic and urban pollution. Natural source of in-lake contaminants are toxic compounds produced and excreted by various phytoplankton species. Blooms of toxic species of Microcystis and Aphanizomenon (Cyanobacteria) were recorded annually since 1994. In this chapter, we bring information on the type and distribution of anthropogenic and natural pollutants in Lake Kinneret, their multiannual variations, and their implication for water quality.