Dissolved organic matter concentration changes in river waters of Latvia

Amounts of natural organic matter in surface waters reflect the character and intensity of biological processes in water bodies, human impact and depend on the physico-geographical environment and land-use in the catchments. Thus, analysis of the concentrations and loadings of organic substances to adjacent water bodies can be used to indicate environmental change and human impacts. This study revealed significant increasing trends of total organic carbon (TOC) and water colour in most of the studied Latvian rivers during the last decade. However, over longer time periods, there have been pronounced oscillations of TOC concentrations, stressing the importance of long-term changes of river discharge. On a yearly basis, there was a positive correlation between parameters of organic matter concentration and discharge in all selected rivers. The impact of discharge on concentrations of organic matter can be masked by other factors, such as changes in precipitation, biological processes, soil types and land-use.