Assessment of pollutant loads discharged from aquaculture ponds around Taihu Lake, China

China is the world's largest producer of aquatic animals, and the Taihu Lake area is one of the most important contributors within China. To obtain the basic information needed to minimize environmental impacts of aquaculture, the water quality and volume of effluents from 48 ponds used for raising crab, shrimp, river prawn, black carp, grass carp and turtles near Taihu Lake were monitored, and their pollutant loads were estimated. Effluent volumes ranged from 12.7 ± 1.7 (crab) to 50.9 ± 15.8 (turtle) thousand tons ha−1 year−1. The concentration of pollutants in the effluents often exceeded acceptable limits for Taihu Lake. Crab ponds produced the lowest gross loads of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, chemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids, whereas turtle ponds produced the highest. The net loads of monitored pollutants comprised only 4–53% of the gross loads in crab ponds, but > 50% in other species ponds. Results indicate that the pollutant loads discharged from aquaculture ponds around Taihu Lake are mild, but precautions are still needed to treat the wastewater. Connecting the ponds in series with crab ponds downstream is a feasible way to decrease pollutant loads.