Pollution worst in coastal waters, lakes, and rivers of Southern Finland

Situation better in other areas

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Coastal waters in the south of Finland are in poor shape, according to a new ecological classification put out by the Finnish Environment Institute and the Game and Fisheries Research Institute.
     Sea water quality is poorest near the islands off Inkoo and Tammisaari, where the water is cloudy, and where fauna on the bottom have nearly disappeared in areas of depleted oxygen.
     
According to a new survey, lakes, rivers, and coastal waters in most other parts of Finland are in good condition.
     The problems in the south of Finland affect both coastal waters, as well as rivers and small lakes. In Uusimaa, surface waters are, on the average, in poorer condition than in the rest of the country.
     The most serious causes of pollution in the area are agriculture and sparse residential patterns. In Uusimaa 100,000 people live outside areas with municipal sewage treatment facilities. In addition, the areas have about 40,000 summer residents.
     One of the most seriously ailing bodies of water in Uusimaa is the lake Tuusulanjärvi, which is naturally high in algae, and which us further burdened by human activity.
     “The lake has large amounts of blue-green algae every summer. This indicates that the lake’s ecological state is not very good”, says Mauri Karonen of the Uusimaa Environment Centre.
     
At the Tervanokka beach on Tuusulanjärvi, Tero Vainikainen basks in the sunshine. His children, Timi and Julia Vainikainen, as well as Tiia Hulkko splash in the water. Tero Vainikainen, who has lived in Tuusula all of his life, says that the lake has deteriorated over the years.
     “The water has always been brown, and every summer a ban on swimming is imposed on the lake because of the algae.”, Vainikainen says.
     As he prepares to go fishing in his boat, Seppo Larjava takes a more positive view.
     “We are going in a better direction all the time. In the 1970s the situation was really poor, when Järvenpää dumped its waste water in the lake”, Larjava recalls.
     
During the refurbishment of the tunnel that brings in water from Lake Päijänne, Helsinki is taking its tap water from the Vantaa River. During the dry early summer, Helsinki Water had to divert additional water into the river from Hiidenvesi in Vihti.
      If conditions remain dry, Tuusulanjärvi might also be used as a source.
      “Blue-green algae is not an impediment to pumping water from the lake, because the water is treated anyway. What is risky, is if people use untreated water for washing or in the sauna”, Karonen says.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Summer will bring on moderate amount of blue-green algae (3.6.2008)
  Warm August weather favours growth of algae both at sea and in lakes (9.8.2007)

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