Assessment of water quality of Zinav stream in accordance with Turkish legislation and international criteria

Zinav Stream feeds Zinav Lake which is the biggest natural lake of Kelkit Reservoir and Tokat province, and is fed from there. In this aspects, it is important to know the water quality of the lake and to interpret it according to national and international criteria for the protection and management of the aquatic ecosystem of the region. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the water quality of Zinav Stream according to Turkish Legislation and International Criteria. Stations were selected from the north, south and lower, upper and middle parts of Zinav Lake. Three stations from Zinav Stream were identified from the creek water entering and leaving the lake and about 10 km north of the creek. After the general features were determined by preliminary studies, the location of the sampling points were recorded with Magellan explorist 210 model GPS and the study was carried out with the samplings from the determined locations. According to the Water Pollution Control Regulation for stations 1, 2 and 3, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, BOD5, ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, total nitrogen and orthophosphate phosphorus showed good character (1st class) values. Total phosphorus parameter is in the 1st class waters category for the 2nd and 3rd stations, whereas it is evaluated in the 2nd class waters category for the 1st station.