Ecosystem study of a lake dam: Application to the Joumine Dam

The proliferation of cyanobacteria is increasingly important at the level of Tunisian water bodies, which negatively affects the use of water resources either for drinking water or irrigation. In this perspective, the rational management of this type of resources becomes a major challenge for the country. The Joumine dam is part of the mixed-use reservoirs. It’s mainly used for irrigation and drinking purposes of the plain of Mateur, and the greater Tunis, the supply of agricultural water to the region of Cap Bon and the provision of fresh water to the ecosystem of Ichkeul if necessary. It is one of the watersheds affected by the problem of cyanobacteria blooms. Aiming to develop a methodological approach to represent and model the Mediterranean ecosystem in northern Tunisia (Joumine), we will start with assessing the trophic status of the reservoir as the first objective (nutrient concentrations, pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll a, and the identification of species).The second objective is the determination of the influence of cyanobacteria on water quality using statistical study to report water quality status, assess the spatial and temporal change in water quality and determine the influence of the natural and anthropogenic sources on the water quality parameters. The third objective consists into the development of a multi-species cyanobacteria module CyMod (CYanobacteria MODelling) to predict the cyanobacteria blooms based on the results of the previous objectives.