L’albufera is surrounded by the metropolitan area of Valencia, with more than one and a half million inhabitants, an industrial and services zone and areas of intense agriculture. For many years, the growing populations surrounding the marsh have discharged their waste water into the lake with no treatment whatsoever or with a clearly deficient depuration.
This, together with the reduction of quality water inflow, has contributed to the eutrophication that is still affecting the lake despite the public administration’s efforts to improve treatment and sanitation developed in the past few years.
The concentration of organic matter in the water has resulted in a high proliferation of microalgae, leading to the opaque green tint of L’Albufera that only certain plant and animal species can endure.
