Influence of sewage discharge on dissolved oxygen concentration and fish diversity in the Girado stream and Chascomús lake

Abstract

Hypoxic aquatic environments have increased in recent decades mainly by human activitiesthat generate pollution. The objective of this work was to study the influence of the discharge of sewage effluents from Chascomús city on the concentration of dissolved oxygen (DO) in the Girado stream and its connection with Chascomús lake and analyze theimpact on fish biodiversity. Four sites were selected to measure DO and temperature weekly for one year: discharge of sewage effluent, union of the sewage effluent with the Girado stream, Girado stream and Chascomús lake. Also, ichthyological samplings werecarried out in a presumed hypoxic zone and a normoxic zone of the Girado stream. The results showed that there were two hypoxic zones corresponding to the sewage effluent and the union of the effluent with the Girado stream (~3 mg l−1). Also, two normoxic zones were identified, the course of the Girado stream and the union with Chascomús lake (~ 8 mg l−1). In these areas the water temperature varied according to the seasonality of the region (from 10 to 30 °C) without differences between zones. It is important to notethat these areas received a constant flow of sewage effluent from Chascomús city (~ 885,600 l per day). In the fish sampling carried out in the 4 seasons of the year, 14 typical species of the Pampas lakes were captured with species more tolerant to low DO. Pejerreywere captured in a small number in both sites but with no signs of abnormalities in the gonads.