• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.57-65
• /
• 2004

In order to determine the effect of fresh water inflow from the Heongsan river on the changes of water quality in the Yeongil Bay (Korea), the seasonal changes of water temperature, salinity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved inorganic nitrogen(DIN) and phosphate phosphorus ($PO_4$-P) concentrations were examined using the data set obtained five fixed points of Yeongil Bay from 1998 to 2000. The distributions and changes of COD and concentrations of total inorganic phosphorous (TIP) and nitrogen (TIN) at three points Heongsan river, were also compared with those of Yeongil Bay. Based on the correlations of DIN and $PO_4$-P, it was found that the inflow of freshwater affected on the water quality of Yeongil Bay. Such a complicacy was confirmed by the prominent differences in n few water quality measures between Site 1(the innermost area) and Site 5 (the mouth of the bay). The negative correlations in $\Delta N/\Delta P $ at sites 1, 2 and 3 of the inner-part of the bay also indicated a large effect of freshwater inflow on the water quality of the bay. The extremely low atomic ratio of an average of 6.4 in $\Delta N/\Delta P $ compared to the Redfild ratio suggested that the DIN was depleted in the overall bay system. In contrast, it was inferred that the excessive PO$_4$-P concentration was due to the inflow of freshwater from the Heongsan river.