Norway: Environmental Pollutants As Clear as a Norwegian Lake? Not Anymore

Data from Norwegian monitoring programs show that the levels of siloxanes, PFOS and mercury in Norwegian lakes are still high.

Oslo/Norway — The levels of environmental contaminants in the pelagic food webs of lake Mjøsa, Randsfjorden and lake Femunden have been mapped since 2013. In these three lakes, there is moderate, little and negligible environmental influence, respectively, of discharges from the local communities, agriculture and industry. The research is conducted by The Norwegian Institute of Water Research (Niva) and The Norwegian Institute of Air Research (Nilu) on behalf of The Norwegian Environment Agency and is part of the monitoring program “Environmental pollutants in large Norwegian lakes” (“Miljøgifter i store innsjøer”).

The monitoring program was started in 2013, and runs for four years. The results from 2015 were published in a comprehensive report in November 2016, which included supplementary material from fish from lake Tyri (Tyrifjorden) and lake Vansjø.