Has Lake Orta completely recovered from its heavy polluted condition? A seventy years long history

Taking in account the results obtained from the 16 previous papers, the present conditions of Lake Orta are stated. While chemical features are now almost normal, it was demonstrated that sediments still contain large amounts of heavy metals in the upper 10 cm and are thus to be considered still toxic for benthic fauna. Algal community shows evidence of increasing complexity and stability, so does zooplankton, albeit to a lesser extent. Benthic fauna is still affected by past water pollution and is very poor both in number of species and of individuals.