Assessment of the Trophic Status of the South Lagoon of Tunis (Tunisia, Mediterranean Sea): Geochemical and Statistical Approaches

Abstract

The trophic status assessment of the South Lagoon of Tunis, a shallow Mediterranean coastal area after its restoration, is addressed herein with respect to its various environmental settings which are taken as indicators of water quality. The lagoon had, in the past, witnessed severe environmental quality issues. To resolve these problems, a large restoration project of the lagoon was undertaken which consisted of dredging the bottom sediments removing areas of water stagnation and improving water circulation. After this restoration work, the lagoon morphology has radically changed. In this paper, we attempt to evaluate the lagoon water’s trophic state to analyze the eutrophication risk after almost 16 years. In order to achieve these purposes, two water quality monitoring campaigns were conducted (July 2013 and February 2014). Natural and anthropogenic factors controlling the nutrient content of the lagoon water have been assessed through both geochemical methods and multivariate statistical tools. The results show that the nutrients are from external sources due to the discharge of municipal and industrial wastewater from the surrounding city of the catchment in the lagoon’s south side. According to the TRIX index, the lagoon remains eutrophic presenting a “poor” water quality, notwithstanding the engineering project due to the high level of nutrients.