THE FATE OF TRACE POLLUTANTS IN NATURAL-WATERS - LAKES AS REAL-WORLD TEST TUBES

Lakes play an important role as ecosystems and drinking-water supplies , but they are also ideal 'real-world test tubes' for studying the fat e and behavior of trace pollutants in natural waters. The trace metals Cu, Zn, and Cd and the organic herbicide atrazine are used to illustr ate the combined approach of field measurements and mathematical model ing to assess the behavior of pollutants in natural waters. In contras t to fast flowing waters (i. e., livers), lakes act as integrators of pollutant inputs from surface waters of the respective catchment area, thus being regional indicators of human activities.