The Hula project: N and P dynamics in Lake Agmon and pollutants removal from the Kinneret inputs

2000 ◽  
Vol 42 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 117-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Gophen
Keyword(s):  
Potential Effect ◽  
Lake Kinneret ◽  
Nutrient Loads ◽  
Land Owners ◽  
Hula Valley ◽  
Lake Agmon ◽  
Nutrient Influx ◽  
Agricultural Use ◽  
Reclamation Project ◽  
Pollutants Removal

During the 1950s the natural Lake Hula and swamps were dried and more than 65×106 m2 of wetland area with a unique natural composition of fauna and flora was turned over to agricultural use. Forty five years later 5.5×106 m2 of this area went through processes causing soil deterioration and a reclamation project was proposed for these soils. The proposal was implemented aimed at ensuring income resource to the land owners and to remove pollutants from the Lake Kinneret inputs. It was found that the newly created (1994) Lake Agmon is acting as a nitrogen sink and the phosphorus is recycled by submerged macrophytes. Long term records of nutrient influx from the catchment (with Hula Valley being major contributor) into Lake Kinneret indicates a decline of organic nitrogen and an increase of SRP. The potential effect of nutrient loads reduction by the Hula Project is presented.

scholarly journals Climate Change Controls Phosphorus Transport from the Watershed into Lake Kinneret (Israel)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moshe Gophen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Regional Climate Change ◽  
Lake Kinneret ◽  
Phosphorus Transport ◽  
Efficient Management ◽  
Hula Valley ◽  
Reclamation Project ◽  
The Impact

AbstractPart of the Kinneret watershed, the Hula Valley, was modified from wetlands – shallow lake for agricultural cultivation. Enhancement of nutrient fluxes into Lake Kinneret was predicted. Therefore, a reclamation project was implemented and eco-tourism partly replaced agriculture. Since the mid-1980s, regional climate change has been documented. Statistical evaluation of long-term records of TP (Total Phosphorus) concentrations in headwaters and potential resources in the Hula Valley was carried out to identify efficient management design targets. Significant correlation between major headwater river discharge and TP concentration was indicated, whilst the impact of external fertilizer loads and 50,000 winter migratory cranes was probably negligible. Nevertheless, confirmed severe bdamage to agricultural crops carried out by cranes led to their maximal deportation and optimization of their feeding policy. Consequently, the continuation of the present management is recommended.

Lake Kinneret and the Law

1977 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Laster
Keyword(s):  
Lake Water ◽  
Algal Blooms ◽  
Lake Kinneret ◽  
Commercial Fish ◽  
Fish Catch ◽  
Direct Contrast ◽  
Agricultural Use ◽  
Unique Species ◽  
Purification Plant

In direct contrast to Israel's western flowing streams, Lake Kinneret is used for a multiplicity of beneficial uses. The lake supplies 45% of the country's total water supply, 6% of its fish catch, a vacation spot for 1½ million tourists a year, a purification plant for 3 million cubic metres of sewage yearly, an annual supply of tons of smooth, decorative pebbles, and a source of income for at least 70 scientists.Again in contrast to Israel's streams and wadis, data are available to those interested in preventing pollution of the Kinneret. Scientific studies of the lake began as far back as 1847. Beginning in the 1950's Israel scientists concentrated their efforts on solving a myriad of problems in the lake and its watershed. In the 1950's geographic surveys of the watershed were completed which described the type of land, its quality, texture and suitability for agricultural use. By 1964, scientific studies included the quality of lake water for drinking, lake currents, salt concentrations in the lake, sources of radiation, the lake's temperature, phytoplankton, zooplankton, algal blooms, floating plants, organisms living at the bottom of the lake, the lake's water level, thematodes and nematodes in the lake, water birds, chiromed flies, pesticides, commercial fish, and, last but not least, the Tabgha blind prawn, the only unique species endemic to the lake's waters.

scholarly journals Effects of Climate Conditions on TP Outsourcing in Lake Kinneret (Israel)

Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 142
Author(s):  
Moshe Gophen
Keyword(s):  
Total Phosphorus ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Peat Soil ◽  
Lake Kinneret ◽  
Runoff Water ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Hula Valley ◽  
Natural Wetlands

Since the mid-1980s, significant changes in climate conditions have occurred, and trends of dryness in the Kinneret drainage basin have been documented, including a temperature increase and precipitation decline. The precipitation decline, and consequently the reduction in river discharge, resulted in a decrease in TP (total phosphorus) flux into Lake Kinneret. After the drainage of the Hula natural wetlands and old Lake Hula during the 1950s, the ecological characteristics of the Hula Valley were modified. Nutrient fluxes downstream into Lake Kinneret were therefore predicted. The impacts of climate conditions (precipitation and discharge) on TP (total phosphorus) outsourcing through erosive action are significant: higher and lower discharge enhances and reduces TP load, respectively. The total TP flushing range from the Hula Valley peat soil through the subterranean medium and where TP is directed are not precisely known but are probably outside Lake Kinneret. Most runoff water and mediated TP originates from bedrock through erosive action. Long-term records of TP concentrations in headwaters and potential resources in the Hula Valley confirmed the significant influence of climate conditions on the outsourcing of TP capacity. The impacts of agricultural development, external fertilizer loads and migratory cranes in the winter are probably insignificant.

scholarly journals Chemical, Hydrological and Climatological Properties of Lake Agmon, Hula Valley (Israel), (1994-2006)

2016 ◽  
Vol 06 (01) ◽  
pp. 8-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moshe Gophen ◽  
Moshe Meron ◽  
Yosef Tsipris ◽  
Valerie Orlov-Levin ◽  
Mordechay Peres
Keyword(s):  
Hula Valley ◽  
Lake Agmon

Agricultural land rehabilitation following 2010 Darfield (Canterbury) earthquake

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 432-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Almond ◽  
T.M. Wilson ◽  
F. Shanhun ◽  
Z. Whitman ◽  
A. Eger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Surface Deformation ◽  
Fault Rupture ◽  
Rural Land ◽  
Land Owners ◽  
Agricultural Use ◽  
Recovery Group ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Micro Topography

This paper describes the nature of earthquake damage and rehabilitation of rural land affected by fault rupture and liquefaction following the 4 September 2010 Darfield (Canterbury) Earthquake. Remediation of land damaged by fault rupture and liquefaction was a significant concern for affected farmers and land-owners. A multidisciplinary team of researchers linked to the Rural Recovery Group (responsible for recovery of rural areas following the Canterbury earthquake) used a variety of techniques to assess land damage and evaluate the effectiveness of various rehabilitation techniques. It was found that land damage caused by strike slip fault rupture could generally be repaired by heavy roller. In areas of severe surface deformation and fracturing, deep cultivation followed by rolling was necessary to close surface fractures and flatten fault micro-topography to restore the land to a useable condition for agricultural use. Liquefaction damage to land consisted of blistered topography (by liquefied sediment injecting between topsoil and sub-soil) and liquefied sediment ejection at the surface. Both surfaces were often unsuitable for continuing agricultural operations. Several passes by a rotary-hoe and power-harrow effectively smoothed blisters and returned paddocks to a suitable state. Land severely affected by sediment ejection required scraping or grading of the sediment to < 50 mm and cultivation of the material into the topsoil. Both treatments resulted in destruction of current pasture or crop. Land less severely affected could be treated by spreading only, which conserved the existing pasture. Future work will track the on-going recovery of remediated and un-remediated land.

ALGAL FLORA IN THE HULA VALLEY—PAST AND PRESENT

1998 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Utsa Pollingher ◽  
Tamar Zohary ◽  
Tatiana Fishbein
Keyword(s):  
Algal Species ◽  
Algal Flora ◽  
Species List ◽  
The North ◽  
Hula Valley ◽  
Lake Agmon ◽  
Ca 50 ◽  
Shallow Water Body ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Lake Hula

Lake Agmon, a small shallow water body (area 1.1 km2, mean depth <lm) was created in April 1994 as part of the Hula restoration project in the dried peat-soils of the Hula Valley. Until ca. 50 years ago, this area was covered with swamps, extending to the north of Lake Hula. We followed changes over time in the abundance and species composition of the algal populations in Lake Agmon over the initial 4 years that followed its creation, consolidated the existing information on the algal populations of the extinct Lake Hula, and compared the Lake Agmon algal populations with those reported from Lake Hula and with those present in Lake Rinneret. Altogether, 276 algal species were found in Lake Agmon, including 140 chlorophytes, 48 euglenophytes, 34 cyanophytes, 31 diatoms, 8 cryptophytes, 8 dinoflagellates, and 4 chrysophytes. A comprehensive species list for Lake Hula was also compiled, based on the limited published accounts. The similarities between the past and present algal communities in the Hula Valley were great: most diatom, dinoflagellate, chrysophyte, euglenophyte, and large chlorophyte and cyanophyte genera that are seen today in Lake Agmon were also reported from Lake Hula. However, the Hula list of genera was shorter than the Lake Agmon list in some particular categories. The lack of most of the nannoplanktonic Chlorococcales, and all cryptophytes and other small flagellates from the Hula list was attributed to different sampling and preservation methods in the early days; the absence of most filamentous cyanobacteria is considered a real difference, possibly resulting from the more eutrophic status of Lake Agmon. Notably, the dinoflagellate Peridinium gatunense, which blooms annually in Lake Kinneret downstream of the Hula Valley, was not recorded in Lake Hula and did not occur in Lake Agmon.

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