9. Assessment of Pollution of Water Resources and Process of Pollution Spreading

Excessive fertilization of surface waters is an extremely important problem in their protection. Urbanization, industrialization, intensive agricultural production in the catchment area, as well as significant development of tourism, in the absence of effective methods of lake protection, affect their high nutrient loads. Therefore, in recent decades we have observed rapid eutrophication of lakes. The multidimensional importance of lakes (e.g. natural, economic) is indisputable, hence the need to protect them. The paper presents the results of long-term studies enabling to trace the changes taking place in the lakes of West Pomerania. The susceptibility of the studied lakes to degradation was assessed, as well as the role of the catchment area in this process. Analyzing the ecological systems of the catchment—lake, the intensity of eutrophication of each reservoir was determined; trophy level of the examined lakes was assessed. It was found that farming is the basic source of biogens for the studied waters, and the degradation of water resources under the influence of agricultural area pollution is a fundamental problem for their protection. The results of lake research clearly indicate the need to develop plans for their protection, which should include examining 7–8 times each year of each water body, which will allow to determine the functioning of lake ecosystems and take appropriate protection measures.