Development of standards for assessing water quality in marine coastal waters of Bahrain

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Painting, Suzanne J., Smith, Andy J., Khamis, Ahmed Saeed, Abdulla, Khalil Hasan, Le Quesne, William J.F., Lyons, Brett P., Devlin, Michelle J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2194-2534 and Garcia, Luz (2023) Development of standards for assessing water quality in marine coastal waters of Bahrain. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 196. ISSN 0025-326X

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Abstract

Marine coastal waters of Bahrain are under pressure due to human activities and climate change. We used marine monitoring data (2005–2020) from 27 sites to establish baseline conditions and develop standards for assessments of water quality. Five hydrodynamic regions were identified: Oyster Beds, North, West, East, East (Coastal). Data from Oyster Beds sites, likely to be less impacted by human activities, were used to determine baseline conditions. For most parameters, candidate thresholds were based on 50 % and 100 % variation from baseline and 95th percentiles. Comparisons of data against different thresholds showed different outcomes. Overall, results indicate good water quality, with potential concerns in East (Coastal). Trend analyses showed some significant trends in all regions: downward (favourable) for some parameters (e.g. turbidity: North) and upward for others (e.g. nitrate: Oyster Beds, East and East (Coastal)). Future work requires greater understanding around optimum guidelines that protect and mitigate any adverse ecological impacts.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Data availability: Data will be made available on request.
Uncontrolled Keywords: chlorophyll,environmental status,nutrient,oxygen,standard,threshold,oceanography,aquatic science,pollution,sdg 13 - climate action,sdg 14 - life below water ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1900/1910
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Collaborative Centre for Sustainable Use of the Seas
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 18 Jun 2026 11:23
Last Modified: 21 Jun 2026 23:04
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/103435
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115560

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