Urbanization: The historical cause of low oxygen conditions in European lakes

A new study shows that hypoxia, i.e. low oxygen conditions, in European lakes started in 1850, becoming more widespread after 1900, long before the use of chemical fertilizers and climate change. A Canadian and European research team has identified urban expansion as the reason for the low amounts of bioavailable oxygen in numerous European lakes in past centuries. Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the findings of this study directed by postdoctoral fellow Jean-Philippe Jenny and Professor Pierre Francus of INRS suggest that increased waste water pollution at the turn of the 20th century boosted the lakes' biological productivity, which in turn led to a rise in oxygen consumption.

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