Advantages of lakes in human life
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The fact that lakes occupy such a small fraction of the landscape belies their importance as environmental systems and resources for human use. They have intrinsic ecological and environmental values. Besides, human use, they are used for many commercial purposes including fishing, transportation, irrigation and industrial water supply, and function as receiving waters for wastewater effluents.
They moderate temperatures and affect the climate of the surrounding area. By storing water they help regulate stream flow, recharge ground water aquifers and moderate droughts. They provide habitat to aquatic and semi aquatic plants and animals, which in turn provide food to many terrestrial animals, adding to the diversity of the landscape.
The myriad ways in which humans use lakes, along with numerous pollutants generating activities, have stressed lake ecosystems in diverse ways, frequently causing impairment of lake quality for other uses. Stresses to lakes arise from easily identifiable point sources such as municipal and industrial wastewater, non-point degradation like urban and agricultural run-off within a lake's watershed, and the most insidious long-range atmospheric transport of contaminants. Major degrading factors include excessive eutrophication due to nutrient and organic matter loading; siltation due to inadequate erosion control in agricultural, construction, logging and mining activities; introduction of exotic species; acidification from atmospheric sources and acid mine drainage; and contamination by toxic (or potentially toxic) metals such as mercury and organic compounds such as poly-chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and pesticides. In addition, physical changes at the land-lake interface (eg. draining of riparian wetlands) and hydrologic manipulations (eg. Damming outlets to stabilise water levels) also have major impacts on the structure and functioning of these ecosystems.
They moderate temperatures and affect the climate of the surrounding area. By storing water they help regulate stream flow, recharge ground water aquifers and moderate droughts. They provide habitat to aquatic and semi aquatic plants and animals, which in turn provide food to many terrestrial animals, adding to the diversity of the landscape.
The myriad ways in which humans use lakes, along with numerous pollutants generating activities, have stressed lake ecosystems in diverse ways, frequently causing impairment of lake quality for other uses. Stresses to lakes arise from easily identifiable point sources such as municipal and industrial wastewater, non-point degradation like urban and agricultural run-off within a lake's watershed, and the most insidious long-range atmospheric transport of contaminants. Major degrading factors include excessive eutrophication due to nutrient and organic matter loading; siltation due to inadequate erosion control in agricultural, construction, logging and mining activities; introduction of exotic species; acidification from atmospheric sources and acid mine drainage; and contamination by toxic (or potentially toxic) metals such as mercury and organic compounds such as poly-chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and pesticides. In addition, physical changes at the land-lake interface (eg. draining of riparian wetlands) and hydrologic manipulations (eg. Damming outlets to stabilise water levels) also have major impacts on the structure and functioning of these ecosystems.
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