IT10-Lake ecosystems of Sardinia - Italy

In Sardinia, the second largest Mediterranean island, about 90% of the drinking water derives from ~40 artificial lakes. Data collected on a multidecadal scale have shown that these lakes are largely eutrophic and dominated by cyanobacteria. Since the late 1980s, the management of Sardinian artificial lakes has been oriented toward a multiannual approach to address prolonged droughts and to limit, as much as possible, water level fluctuation and its adverse ecological consequences. The water management strategy carried out by the Regional Agency Ente Acque della Sardegna (ENAS) aims to store water from the wet to the dry season at intrannual and interannual scales and to move waters from one basin to another for different needs. The parent site consists of six artificial lakes and is part of the LTER-Italy since its inception. The site has always been managed by the Department of Architecture, Design and Urban Planning of University of Sassari, in close collaboration with the Sardinian Water Authority for lakes (ENAS - ENte Acque della Sardegna). The six lakes are located in north-central part of the island and are being studied for over thirty years. Those are: • Lake Bidighinzu (IT10-001-A) • Lake Cedrino (IT10-002-A) • Lake Cuga (IT10-003-A) • Lake Monte Lerno (IT10-004-A) • Lake Sos Canales (IT10-005-A) • Lake Temo (IT10-006-A) Since 2006, in all the six LTER Sardinian reservoirs, is operating a Real Time Remote Monitoring System. The project aims to provide a tool to optimize the management of the resource, giving the chance to chose the water layer along the vertical profile with the best quality for the potabilization. The data are acquired by mean of a probe equipped with sensors to measure temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll a. These data are verified and combined with those obtained using traditional survey methods. A long-term data series is available for each lake, with high-frequency of measurements and samplings regarding the most important environmental and biological variables.