ASSESSMENT OF WETLAND AREAS AT SHKODRA LAKE, ALBANIA SIDE

Shkodra Lake is an ecosystem of importance for Albania and the region, in terms of history, culture and nature. The lake, in addition to its size as the largest in Albania, has great values for biodiversity and economic development. Along its eastern shores there are many wetlands. These areas are quite rich in plant and animal species and a variety of habitats. At the same time, these habitats are important for the local community, where they live and develop a large part of their vital activity. The wetland part is always under the influence of the rise and fall of the lake level due to seasonal changes. This project focuses on the study of new development alternatives that are more sustainable from an environmental point of view in Shkodra Lake, with the possibility of development in a long time, based on local natural resources but not harming them is necessary. For many decades, wetland areas have been treated as spaces that need to be changed, without economic value, dangerous for people's health, etc. With this study, it is required to evaluate numerically and not only qualitatively from the economic point of view of the wetland areas, combining it with the natural values. This study, which includes different study disciplines, will help to better known wetland areas not only from the environmental, natural, but also economic value. Traditionally, the lake pollution has been extensively studied regarding physical and chemical characteristics. However, lately microbiological quality of the lake has come under greater focus owing to deleterious effects of pollution on human health. The bacterial pollution of the water of Shkodra Lake, Albania part is conditioned both from the untreated sewage wastewater and the contribution of bathing people. Out of large number of microbial parameters linked with human health, some significant contaminating indicators, namely, total Coli form (MPN/100ml), Faecal coliform (MPN/100ml), Streptococcus faecalis (MPN/100ml) have been identified and measured. The results taken by the analyses show that the bacterial pollution of the littoral waters of Lake Shkodra, surpasses the UNEP/WHO standards for the microbiological quality of bathing waters (100-1000 E. coli/100ml) in most of the sampling locations.