Epsilon Open Archive

Since 2018, Mälaren's Water Conservation Association (MVVF) and the Swedish Agricultural University (SLU) have been collaborating to increase the exchange between research and social interests around Lake Mälaren.

The environmental monitoring results from 2018 showed that the warm and dry weather affected the aquatic environment with lower water levels and warm surface water as early as May. The warm temperatures led to a summer where the phytoplankton samples were dominated by cyanobacteria, which led to relatively low ecological status based on phytoplankton. The long period of stratified conditions led to low oxygen concentrations in some of the lake's deeper basins. This negatively affected the bottom fauna. As in previous years, the 2018 sampling shows that the best water quality is found in the eastern part of Lake Mälaren, i.e. the part dominated by large and deep basins. Here the status is generally good or high, while the western and north-eastern part usually has moderate status or worse.

Research findings from research projects about safe drinking water with examples from Lake Mälaren show that better monitoring strategies and water treatment methods are needed to remove toxic substances. Research projects on methods for ensuring biodiversity in community planning show that in the connection to water, i.e. the green-blue infrastructure, trees are key organisms to protect aquatic organisms in streams during hot weather by shading. Two student projects were presented during 2018 with new knowledge about drug residues in water (master level), and algal blooms (bachelor level) in Lake Mälaren.