Threat of eutrophication to the Baltic Ecoregion A widespread
and persistent problem Eutrophication it is a process where
bodies of water, such as lakes, estuaries, or slow-moving
streams, receive excess nutrients that stimulate excessive plant
growth. This enhanced plant growth, often called an algal bloom,
reduces dissolved oxygen in the water. This affects the
ecosystem and might change it totally. About 80% of all
nutrients in the sea come from land-based activities, including
sewage, industrial and municipal waste and agricultural run-off.
The rest is mainly from nitrous gasses, emitted when burning
fossil fuels, from traffic, industry, power generation and
heating The Baltic Sea contains 800% more phosphorus than it did
100 years ago There are two main nutrients causing
eutrophication, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). They are
deposited to the sea in several different ways. In 2000, about
660,000 tonnes of nitrogen and 28,000 tonnes of phosphorus
entered the Baltic Sea via rivers. The Baltic Sea now con