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recording and recording your abstraction

Most licences require you to accurately measure and report the quantity of water you abstract. Metering requirements will form part of your discussions with the Environment Agency during the determination of your application.

Measuring and recording the amount of water you abstract will allow you to take action to keep within the limits allowed in your licence. If you think you need to abstract more than your maximum quantity, you must contact the Environment Agency early. There is no guarantee that the Environment Agency will be able to increase the maximum quantity your licence allows you to abstract.

Most abstractors must provide the Environment Agency with accurate records of how much water is taken in order to enable them to:

ensure society’s need for water is balanced with that needed to maintain a healthy aquatic environment

allocate spare resources to other abstractors

charge some abstractors based on how much water they take

check compliance with licence conditions

provide information on water usage

Reporting how much water you’ve abstracted

Your abstraction licence will tell you how often you need to record the amount of water you abstract. Most licences will also ask you to submit a record of your actual abstraction (known as ‘returns’) to the Environment Agency.

Even if you haven’t taken any water, you must submit a ‘nil’ return if your licence states that you must report your water use.

If you do not submit your record of actual abstraction when required to do so, the Environment Agency may take enforcement action. If you spray irrigate and hold a two part tariff billing agreement your charges are partially calculated on the amount of water abstracted. To gain the full financial benefits of this agreement it is important that you submit your return, even if you haven’t abstracted any water.

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http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/sijpkes/arch374/winter2001/dbiggs/enviro.html

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Abstraction charges

The Environment Agency charges abstraction licence holders to fund the costs they incur in ensuring water resources are managed effectively while protecting the environment. This includes ensuring the rights of existing licence holders to abstract water are protected when granting new or varied licences.

An annual subsistence charge, which comprises the Standard Unit Charge (SUC) and the Environmental Improvement Unit Charge (EIUC), is usually payable by everyone who holds a full licence to abstract water.

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Extract from wetlands book on pollution PHOTO 4

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Over AbstractionWater quantity and quality is essential to healthy rivers and good fisheries. Over-abstraction can be very destructive to fish and invertebrates.Abstraction is the permanent or temporary removal of water from rivers, canals, lakes, reservoirs or aquifers for human water management. The restoration and preservation of native stream biota requires the rehabilitation of natural flow regimes, yet it is predicted that by 2025, 40% of the world’s population will be facing water poverty. The challenge is how we balance these needs.Hydrological variability within rivers and streams is one of the primary factors influencing the distribution of aquatic wildlife. Unnaturally low flows and altered flow regimes caused by water abstraction can have damaging impacts on river systems, and their associated fish, invertebrates and plants.Over-abstraction of river systems can cause:Hydrological and hydraulic changes; modifying in-stream habitat and altering the width, depths, velocity patterns and shear stresses within the system.Increase the invasion of non-native speciesShifts and reductions in invertebrate assemblagesWater quality changes; reducing the rivers ability to dilute pollutants, such as phosphorus.Increase sediment deposition, thus reducing available fish spawning habitatIncrease water temperature, and thus decrease dissolved oxygen in the water, which can seriously impact salmonidsDisruption to migratory fish and invertebrate passagesReduce the growth of aquatic flora such as RanunculusReduced connectivity with floodplains and riparian margins.Current ManagementThe Environment Agency is responsible for managing water systems and abstraction licenses in England and Wales. Its duties stem from the 1963 Water Resources Act, which requires a balance between the licensing of water abstraction for the needs of water users and the needs of the environment. Historically, this was undertaken on a piecemeal basis, with many local precedents and “rules of thumb”. A general principle was the protection of the lowest flows, commonly those experienced naturally only 5% of the time, through the use of “hands off flows”; specific flow criteria at which abstraction had to cease or be significantly reduced.The legislative changes were realised in the 2003 Water Act.Time limits for all new abstraction licences; a start and expiry date.Greater flexibility to raise or lower licensing thresholdsDeregulation of small and environmentally insignificant abstractionsWater company drought plans and water resource management plans to become a statutory requirement.Non legislative initiatives also include the development of;Catchment Abstraction Management Strategies (CAMS); developed to provide a consistent mechanism for managing water use through catchment planning and licensing, and to provide the information necessary for the review of existing time-limited licences and for the assessment of new time-limited licenses. The first formal cycle of CAMS commenced in 2001, and concluded in March 2008.Restoring Sustainable Abstraction (RSA) Programme; set up in 1999 to identify sites which may be at risk from abstraction, and to prioritise how to resolve the conflicts in these areas. An ongoing review is taking place to identify environmental damage still occurring as a result of abstraction, focusing on sites designated under the Habitats and Birds Directives.The Environment Agency has the power, under existing legalisation, to vary or revoke abstraction licenses causing environmental damage. However, in many circumstances, this requires compensation to be paid to the licence holder. For example, eight years of consultation on how to alleviate over-abstraction of the Rivers Brennand and Whitendale in the upper Ribble catchment, which results in important salmonid spawning and nursery areas being reduced to pools in the drier months, has ended in no changes being made to the current abstraction licences, because no funds are available to compensate water companies for abstracting less water.There is also concern over the effectiveness of the CAMS process in aquifer-fed catchments such as the Bourne Rivulet, where the Environment Agency are still allowing high levels of winter abstraction in the Test & Itchen CAMS. This is deemed acceptable because of high seasonal rainfall, but continuing abstraction during these winter months is jeopardising replenishment of the aquifer, with potential to impact the ecology of the Bourne Rivulet.Despite the conservation of aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem health being embedded in current policies, there seems to be little political will to prioritise it. Environmental protection tends to favour small scale site protection or rehabilitation. However, structural river restoration will provide very little environmental benefit if other key stressors on the system are not removed. The conservation of running water systems requires the restoration of the underlying processes that support the biota. Restoring natural flow regimes is fundamental to improving aquatic habitats, and increasing biodiversity. Restoring flow regimes should not be considered in isolation, but linked with water quality and morphology targets.

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Over AbstractionWater quantity and quality is essential to healthy rivers and good fisheries. Over-abstraction can be very destructive to fish and invertebrates.Abstraction is the permanent or temporary removal of water from rivers, canals, lakes, reservoirs or aquifers for human water management. The restoration and preservation of native stream biota requires the rehabilitation of natural flow regimes, yet it is predicted that by 2025, 40% of the world’s population will be facing water poverty. The challenge is how we balance these needs.Hydrological variability within rivers and streams is one of the primary factors influencing the distribution of aquatic wildlife. Unnaturally low flows and altered flow regimes caused by water abstraction can have damaging impacts on river systems, and their associated fish, invertebrates and plants.Over-abstraction of river systems can cause:Hydrological and hydraulic changes; modifying in-stream habitat and altering the width, depths, velocity patterns and shear stresses within the system.Increase the invasion of non-native speciesShifts and reductions in invertebrate assemblagesWater quality changes; reducing the rivers ability to dilute pollutants, such as phosphorus.Increase sediment deposition, thus reducing available fish spawning habitatIncrease water temperature, and thus decrease dissolved oxygen in the water, which can seriously impact salmonidsDisruption to migratory fish and invertebrate passagesReduce the growth of aquatic flora such as RanunculusReduced connectivity with floodplains and riparian margins.Current ManagementThe Environment Agency is responsible for managing water systems and abstraction licenses in England and Wales. Its duties stem from the 1963 Water Resources Act, which requires a balance between the licensing of water abstraction for the needs of water users and the needs of the environment. Historically, this was undertaken on a piecemeal basis, with many local precedents and “rules of thumb”. A general principle was the protection of the lowest flows, commonly those experienced naturally only 5% of the time, through the use of “hands off flows”; specific flow criteria at which abstraction had to cease or be significantly reduced.The legislative changes were realised in the 2003 Water Act.Time limits for all new abstraction licences; a start and expiry date.Greater flexibility to raise or lower licensing thresholdsDeregulation of small and environmentally insignificant abstractionsWater company drought plans and water resource management plans to become a statutory requirement.Non legislative initiatives also include the development of;Catchment Abstraction Management Strategies (CAMS); developed to provide a consistent mechanism for managing water use through catchment planning and licensing, and to provide the information necessary for the review of existing time-limited licences and for the assessment of new time-limited licenses. The first formal cycle of CAMS commenced in 2001, and concluded in March 2008.Restoring Sustainable Abstraction (RSA) Programme; set up in 1999 to identify sites which may be at risk from abstraction, and to prioritise how to resolve the conflicts in these areas. An ongoing review is taking place to identify environmental damage still occurring as a result of abstraction, focusing on sites designated under the Habitats and Birds Directives.The Environment Agency has the power, under existing legalisation, to vary or revoke abstraction licenses causing environmental damage. However, in many circumstances, this requires compensation to be paid to the licence holder. For example, eight years of consultation on how to alleviate over-abstraction of the Rivers Brennand and Whitendale in the upper Ribble catchment, which results in important salmonid spawning and nursery areas being reduced to pools in the drier months, has ended in no changes being made to the current abstraction licences, because no funds are available to compensate water companies for abstracting less water.There is also concern over the effectiveness of the CAMS process in aquifer-fed catchments such as the Bourne Rivulet, where the Environment Agency are still allowing high levels of winter abstraction in the Test & Itchen CAMS. This is deemed acceptable because of high seasonal rainfall, but continuing abstraction during these winter months is jeopardising replenishment of the aquifer, with potential to impact the ecology of the Bourne Rivulet.Despite the conservation of aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem health being embedded in current policies, there seems to be little political will to prioritise it. Environmental protection tends to favour small scale site protection or rehabilitation. However, structural river restoration will provide very little environmental benefit if other key stressors on the system are not removed. The conservation of running water systems requires the restoration of the underlying processes that support the biota. Restoring natural flow regimes is fundamental to improving aquatic habitats, and increasing biodiversity. Restoring flow regimes should not be considered in isolation, but linked with water quality and morphology targets.

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http://www.salmon-trout.org/issues-abstraction

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Having trees on a river bank, stabilizes the bank and can reduce erosion and eventual degradation of the river. Tree species such as: Alder and Willow can be very useful in this role

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Extract from wetland restoration manual PHOTO 3

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This shows water being abstracted from a river

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Eutrophication can have serious effects, like algal blooms that block light from getting into the water and harm the plants and animals that need it.

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Climate Change: Floods, Erosion of Banks and Soil

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An extract on river pollution from the wildlife trusts wetland restoration manual PHOTO 2

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the uses of impoundments include:
-the creation of a new reservoir.
-flood storage.
-maintaining or raising water levels within a wetland.
-raising the water level of a natural loch, estuary or even coastal waters.
on-line impoundments hold back water in lochs, estuaries etc. consequently affecting downstream flows sediment transportation and migratory fish.

off-line impoundments are built on land to store water examples include groundwater, surface run-off and land drainage.
this is found on www.sepa.org.uk

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Information on oil Erosion

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Page redirected to Soil erosion: causes and effects

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An extract on pollution from the Wildlife Trusts wetland restoration manual PHOTO

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Fluvial: Pertaining to, or found in rivers.

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http://www.fwi.co.uk/news/groundwater-abstraction-licences-face-review.htm

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Where extra nutrients enters the water. This encourages algea growth. It grows so fast that it covers the lake/rivers that it blocks out the sunlight which prevents aquatic plants cannot photosynthesis which causes water species to die

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Alder Woodland can be very effective to a woodland bank

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Images show effects on soil erosion on wooded banks as a result of Afforestation and Deforestation

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Britain’s Damaged Rivers - Professor Carolyn Roberts

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Extensive overview of Britain's rivers and the reasons for their destruction http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/britains-damaged-rivers From the nineteenth century onwards, growth in the UK's towns and cities damaged rivers environments. In addition to shifting patterns of erosion and deposition, and pollution, engineers created straight, concrete-lined watercourses, largely devoid of life and visual interest.

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Biology GCSE project. Hope you like it, it's a general idea about the consequences of eutrophication

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Environment Agency Pollution Map in Hadlow

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Environment Agency Pollution Map in Hadlow

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http://maps.environment-agency.gov.uk/wiyby/wiybyController?topic=pollution&layerGroups=default&lang=_e&ep=map&scale=9&x=563408&y=150197#x=563408&y=150197&lg=5,&scale=9http://maps.environment-agency.gov.uk/wiyby/wiybyController?topic=pollution&layerGroups=default&lang=_e&ep=map&scale=9&x=563408&y=150197#x=563408&y=150197&lg=5,&scale=9

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River Thames dredging
Due to industrial and residential development in the Thames valley. As a result they need to protect homes and industry from flooding by dredging

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Types of hard and soft engineering show haow rivers are managed to protect banks from erosion and prevent flooding. Examples range from large multi-purpose dam projects to floodplain restoration

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SOIL EROSION AND ITS EFFECTS

The loss of trees, which anchor the soil with their roots, causes widespread erosion throughout the tropics. Only a minority of areas have good soils, which after clearing are quickly washed away by the heavy rains. Thus crop yields decline and the people must spend income to import foreign fertilizers or clear additional forest. Costa Rica loses about 860 million tons of valuable topsoil every year, while the Great Red Island, Madagascar, loses so much soil to erosion (400 tons/ha) that its rivers run blood-red, staining the surrounding Indian Ocean. Astronauts have remarked that it looks like Madagascar is bleeding to death, an apt description of a country with grave environmental degradation and an agriculture-reliant economy that depends on its soils. The rate of increase for soil loss after forest clearing is astonishing; a study in Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire) found that forested slope areas lost 0.03 tons of soil per year per hectare; cultivated slopes annually lost 90 tons per hectare, while bare slopes lost 138 tons per hectare.

Plane view of deforestation-induced erosion in Madagascar

After heavy tropical rains fall on cleared forest lands, the run-off carries soil into local creeks and rivers. The rivers carry the eroded soils downstream, causing significant problems. Hydroelectric projects and irrigation infrastructure lose productivity from siltation, while industrial installations suspend operations due to lack of water. Siltation also raises river beds, increasing the severity of floods, and creates shoals and sandbars that make river navigation far more troublesome. The increased sediment load of rivers smothers fish eggs, causing lower hatch rates. As the suspended particles reach the ocean, the water becomes cloudy, causing regional declines in coral reefs, and affecting coastal fisheries. The loss of coral reefs worldwide, often labeled the rainforests of the sea, is especially distressing to scientists because of their tremendous diversity and the important services they provide. Coastal fisheries are affected not just by the loss of coral reefs and their communities, but by the damage inflicted on mangrove forests by heavy siltation.

Besides damaging the fisheries industry, deforestation-induced erosion can undermine roads and highways that cross through the forest.

Erosion is extremely costly for developing countries. Besides the damage to infrastructure, fisheries, and property, erosion of precious topsoils costs tens of billions of dollars worldwide each year. For example, in the late 1980s the Indonesian island of Java was losing 770 million metric tons of topsoil every year at an estimated cost of 1.5 million tons of rice, enough to fulfill the needs of 11.5-15 million people.

ENVIRONMENTAL REFUGEES

Environmental deterioration can leave people as " environmental refugees"-people who are displaced due to environmental degradation, including deforestation, sea-level rise, expanding deserts, and catastrophic weather events. Red Cross research shows more people are now displaced by environmental disasters than by war.

Review questions:

Why do rainforests help prevent erosion?

Why is erosion a problem?

What are environmental refugees?

Other versions of this page

Continued / Next: Species Loss, Extinction and Disease

J. Omang ("In the Tropics, still rolling back the rain forest primeval," Smithsonian (March 1987) reported the rate of erosion in Costa Rica.

Photograhper Frans Lanting made the comment that from space it looks as if Madagascar is bleeding to death from rampant erosion in A World Out of Time-Madagascar, New York: Aperture Foundation, Inc., 1990.

UNESCO/UNEP/FAO, in Tropical Forest Ecosystems, 1978 provides the erosion rates for different vegetation types in an Ivory Coast study.

A discussion on the worst coral bleaching on record in 1998 can be found in Wilkinson et al., (Wilkinson, C., O. Linden, H. Cesar, G. Hodgson, J. Rubens, and A. E. Stong, "Ecological and socioeconomic impacts of 1998 coral bleaching in the Indian Ocean: an ENSO impact and a warning of future change?" Ambio, 1999) the U.S. Department of State's "Coral Bleaching, Coral Mortality, and Global Climate Change," Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs U.S. Department of State, March 5, 1999; and Wilkinson, C. and Hodgson, G. ("Coral reefs and the 1997-1998 mass bleaching and mortality," Nature and Resources Vol. 5, No. 2, Apr-June 1999).

Magrath and Areans (Magrath, W. and P. Arens., The costs of soil erosion on Java: a natural resource accounting approach, The World Bank, Washington, D.C., 1993) estimate the annual cost of erosion for Java in terms of rice production.

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The loss of trees, which anchor the soil with their roots, causes widespread erosion throughout the tropics. Only a minority of areas have good soils, which after clearing are quickly washed away by the heavy rains. Thus crop yields decline and the people must spend income to import foreign fertilizers or clear additional forest.

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(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Deforestation is the permanent removal of trees to make room for something besides forest. This can include clearing the land for agriculture or grazing, or using the timber for fuel, construction or manufacturing.

Forests cover more than 30% of the Earth's land surface, according to the World Wildlife Fund. These forested areas can provide food, medicine and fuel for more than a billion people. Worldwide, forests provide 13.4 million people with jobs in the forest sector, and another 41 million people have jobs related to forests.

Forests are a resource, but they are also large, undeveloped swaths of land that can be converted for purposes such as agriculture and grazing. In North America, about half the forests in the eastern part of the continent were cut down for timber and farming between the 1600s and late 1800s, according to National Geographic.

Today, most deforestation is happening in the tropics. Areas that were inaccessible in the past are now within reach as new roads are constructed through the dense forests. A 2017 report by scientists at the University of Maryland showed that the tropics lost about 61,000 square miles (158,000 square kilometers) of forest in 2017 - an area the size of Bangladesh.

Reasons forests are destroyed

The World Bank estimates that about 3.9 million square miles (10 million square km) of forest have been lost since the beginning of the 20th century. In the past 25 years, forests shrank by 502,000 square miles (1.3 million square km) - an area bigger than the size of South Africa. In 2018, The Guardian reported that every second, a chunk of forest equivalent to the size of a soccer field is lost.

Often, deforestation occurs when forested area is cut and cleared to make way for agriculture or grazing. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) reports that just four commodities are responsible for tropical deforestation: beef, soy, palm oil and wood products. UCS estimates that an area the size of Switzerland (14,800 square miles, or 38,300 square km) is lost to deforestation every year.

Natural fires in tropical forests tend to be rare but intense. Human-lit fires are commonly used to clear land for agricultural use. First, valuable timber is harvested, then the remaining vegetation is burned to make way for crops like soy or cattle grazing. In 2019, the number of human-lit fires in Brazil skyrocketed. As of August 2019, more than 80,000 fires burned in the Amazon, an increase of almost 80% from 2018, National Geographic reported.

Many forests are cleared to make way for palm oil plantations. Palm oil is the most commonly produced vegetable oil and is found in half of all supermarket products. It's cheap, versatile and can be added to both food and personal products like lipsticks and shampoo. Its popularity has spurred people to clear tropical forests to grow more palm trees. Growing the trees that produce the oil requires the leveling of native forest and the destruction of local peatlands - which doubles the harmful effect on the ecosystem. According to a report published by Zion Market Research, the global palm oil market was valued at $65.73 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach $92.84 billion in 2021.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Effects of deforestation

Forests can be found from the tropics to high-latitude areas. They are home to 80% of terrestrial biodiversity, containing a wide array of trees, plants, animals and microbes, according to the World Bank, an international financial institution. Some places are especially diverse - the tropical forests of New Guinea, for example, contain more than 6% of the world's species of plants and animals.

Forests provide more than a home for a diverse collection of living things; they are also an important resource for many around the world. In countries like Uganda, people rely on trees for firewood, timber and charcoal. Over the past 25 years, Uganda has lost 63% of its forest cover, Reuters reported. Families send children - primarily girls - to collect firewood, and kids have to trek farther and farther to get to the trees. Collecting enough wood often takes all day, so the children miss school.

According to a 2018 , three-quarters of the Earth's freshwater comes from forested watersheds, and the loss of trees can affect water quality. The UN's 2018 State of the World's Forests report found that over half the global population relies on forested watersheds for their drinking water as well as water used for agriculture and industry.
Related: The Latest Deforestation News Stories
Deforestation in tropical regions can also affect the way water vapor is produced over the canopy, which causes reduced rainfall. A 2019 study published in the journal Ecohydrology showed that parts of the Amazon rainforest that were converted to agricultural land had higher soil and air temperatures, which can exacerbate drought conditions. In comparison, forested land had rates of evapotranspiration that were about three times higher, adding more water vapor to the air.

Trees also absorb carbon dioxide, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activity. As climate change continues, trees play an important role in carbon sequestration, or the capture and storage of excess carbon dioxide. Tropical trees alone are estimated to provide about 23% of the climate mitigation that's needed to offset climate change, according to the World Resources Institute, a nonprofit global research institute.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Deforestation not only removes vegetation that is important for removing carbon dioxide from the air, but the act of clearing the forests also produces greenhouse gas emissions. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says that deforestation is the second-leading cause of climate change. (The first is the burning of fossil fuels.) In fact, deforestation accounts for nearly 20% of greenhouse gas emissions.

Deforestation solutions

Developing alternatives to deforestation can help decrease the need for tree clearing. For example, the desire to expand the amount of land used for agriculture is an attractive reason to deforest an area. But if people adopted sustainable farming practices or employed new farming technologies and crops, the need for more land might be diminished, according to the UN's Sustainable Forest Management Toolbox.

Forests can also be restored, through replanting trees in cleared areas or simply allowing the forest ecosystem to regenerate over time. The goal of restoration is to return the forest to its original state, before it was cleared, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The sooner a cleared area is reforested, the quicker the ecosystem can start to repair itself. Afterward, wildlife will return, water systems will reestablish, carbon will be sequestered and soils will be replenished.
Additional resources:
Everyone can do their part to curb deforestation. We can buy certified wood products, go paperless whenever possible, limit our consumption of products that use palm oil and plant a tree when possible.

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Sarah Derouin - Live Science Contributor

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(Image credit: Shutterstock) Deforestation is the permanent removal of trees to make room for something besides forest. This can include clearing the land for agriculture or grazing, or using the timber for fuel, construction or manufacturing. Forests cover more than 30% of the Earth's land surface, according to the World Wildlife Fund .

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Gap dynamics is the pattern of plant growth that occurs following the creation of a forest gap, a local area of natural disturbance that results in an opening in the canopy of a forest. Gap dynamics are a typical characteristic of temperate and tropical forests, and have a wide variety of causes and effects on forest life.

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Many towns and factories are built near rivers so that they can use water from the river. But sometimes the water is not cleaned before it is put back into the river. This dirtying of water (also air and soil) is called pollution.Pollution can be in a variety of forms: Waste like crisp packets, newspaper and bags. Cans, bottles and other solid objects Human waste / excrementCauses of pollution Agriculture Farmers put fertilizers and pesticides on their crops so that their crops grow better. But these fertilizers and pesticides can be washed through the soil by rain, to end up in rivers. Fertilizers and pesticides are harmful because they cause algae to grow. The algae then destroy water plants.
Green algae Factories
Factories use water from rivers to power machinery or to cool down machinery. Dirty water containing chemicals is put back in the river. Water used for cooling is warmer than the river itself, and this is also a form of pollution. People
People are sometimes careless and throw rubbish such as bottles and crisp packets directly into rivers.
Effects of pollution
Pollution kills water plants and animals.Polluted water also carries diseases. When animals drink the water, they may get diseases which can kill them. People can even get these diseases by eating the infected animal. This happens a lot in poor countries in Africa where people get untreated water directly from the river. Rivers look unsightly when there is rubbish in them. Polluted rivers smell bad.
Solutions
Efforts are being made to clean dirty rivers. Water companies like Southern Water are spending a lot of money to clean up dirty rivers. There are fines for companies and people who deliberately throw rubbish into the river.
http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/rivers/pollution.html

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Water Abstraction Licences: Water can be abstracted (taken) from groundwater, surface water, or tidalwater. An abstraction licence details of what is permitted such as how muchwater is allowed to be abstracted and at what times. Read more about water abstraction licences and how to apply for a licence.http://maps.environment-agency.gov.uk/wiyby/wiybyController?x=357683&y=355134&scale=1&layerGroups=default&ep=map&textonly=off&lang=_e&topic=water_abstractions

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Eutrophication is excessive richness of nutrients In a lake or other body of water. Causes a dense growth of plant life.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/edexcel/problems_in_environment/pollutionrev4.shtml