Question

What is accelerated eutrophication?

Answer 1

Today the leading cause of the degradation of most of the freshwater ecosystems and lakes is the nutrient enrichment brought about by various sources like agricultural runoff and is known as Eutrophication.

Complete answer:
Eutrophication is the excessive algal growth in a water body due to a drastic increase in its nutrient and mineral content resulting in low levels of oxygen inside the water body. This is often represented by algal bloom. In accelerated eutrophication a flux of nutrients reaches the water body and the reason behind this excess nutrient flux is human activities which accelerates the eutrophication. Algae grow rapidly due to the increase in phosphates and nitrates in the water body and when they grow they remove all the oxygen from the water body. This leads to anoxic conditions of oxygen scarcity for the aquatic animals leading to their death and this also makes water unsuitable for drinking.
Human activities that are responsible for this accelerated eutrophication include the discharge from wastewater treatment plants, water from golf courses, lawns that have been treated with fertilizers and several other agricultural practices.

Consequences of accelerated eutrophication are:
-Leads to production of ample biomass of phytoplankton that are foul smelling, noxious and lead to the degradation of water clarity and quality.
-Aquatic plants present in the littoral zone die because the light required for their photosynthesis is blocked by the algal bloom.
-Algal blooms deplete the inorganic carbon present in water by using it for their photosynthesis thereby increasing the pH of the water body.

Additional information:
-Accelerated eutrophication is also known as cultural eutrophication.
-Cyanobacteria also known as blue green algae is mostly found in the algal blooms.
-Some algal bloom secret toxins which are lethal for fishes, animals and human beings. They are known as harmful algal blooms (HBA).
-Methods used to deal with accelerated eutrophication include identifying point and nonpoint sources of nutrient enrichment and diverting their ways, application of algicides like copper sulphate.
-Nutrient introduction in water bodies adjacent to agricultural fields is the highest.

Note: Though many techniques have been tried to lower the level of eutrophication and it keeps on increasing being one of the major factors involved in water pollution and as rapidly the freshwater resources are depleting their need is also rising with the same speed.