Sanitary water conditions in the Curonian Lagoon and the Baltic coastal area of Lithuania

The problem of microbiological pollution in the Baltic Sea and its lagoons is of great importance. The main sources of the pollution in the south-eastern part of the Baltic Sea are the effluent of industrial and domestic waste water and polluted water of rivers. Bacterioplankton data of the Curonian Lagoon were obtained during the period 1995-2003 at 8-9 ecological monitoring stations once a month from April to November. In the spring (May), summer (August) and autumn (October or November) of 1993-2003 sanitary-microbiological researches were performed in 11 stations of the Lithuanian coastal water. During the period of investigations a tendency of decrease in number of coliform bacteria was observed in the area influenced by the water of the Curonian Lagoon. It could be due to the fact that in December 1998 the treatment facility of Klaipeda started to work. The other, though less polluted with relatively pathogenic microflora zone was observed near Šventoji. The area of the sea between Juodkrante and Nida is to the least degree influenced by waste water and the water quality there may be evaluated in general as bacteriologically clean.