Results of national lake surveys (1995) in Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Russian Kola, Russian Karelia, Scotland and Wales

In the autumn of 1995, national lake surveys were conducted in six Northern European countries on the the initiative of the environmental authorities in Sweden, Finland and Norway. The project was subsequently expanded to include Denmark, Russian Kola, Russian Karelia, Scotland and Wales. This report therefore provides the first united evaluation of lake water chemistry in the whole of northern Europe. The results show that lake water chemistry in this area (except Denmark) are characterized by low ionic stregth (dilute) waters, with low content of nitrogen and phosphorus. In Finland, Norway, Sweden, Russian Kola and Karelia more than 50% of the lakes have low critical load (CL) values for sulphur acidity (S) (CL