Effects of Freshwater Release to a Marine Bay

Plans are in progress to increase freshwater inflow to the Zupski Bay, in south Dalmatia (between Dubrovnik and Cavtat, Adriatic Sea) as a consequence of a need to increase hydro-electric power production. The main question is: Would the adverse environmental impacts out-weight the benefit? Following has been found: a) temperature at public beaches will decrease, but the decrease in a worse case scenario will be below 0.5 degrees C and hence will not be felt by tourists, b) the probability for subsurface phytoplankton blooms will increase, but the blooms will be very limited in extent and concentration, and will not cause hypoxia at the bottom, c) benthic community in the eu- and sub-littoral, up to 200 m sea ward from the outflow, will be replaced in part by brackish tolerant species, d) overall trophic status of the bay will increase slightly, e) category of sanitary quality on surrounding beaches will not worsen. Given the above findings, the study recommends to proceed with the plans and increase freshwater inflow from 90 to 105 m3/s.