Ecological screening indicators of stress and risk for the Llobregat river water

• Published in: Journal of hazardous materials 2013-12, Vol.263, p.239-247
• Main Authors: López-Roldán, Ramon, Jubany, Irene, Martí, Vicenç, González, Susana, Cortina, Jose Luis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Ecological risk assessment (ERA); Ecosistemes fluvials; Enginyeria química; Fluvial ecosystems; Llobregat (Catalunya : Riu); Metals; No-Observed-Adverse-Effect Level; Pesticides; Pharmaceutical compounds; Química del medi ambient; Risk Assessment; Rivers - chemistry; Spain; Stress, Physiological; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - standards; Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity; Àrees temàtiques de la UPC
• ISSN: 0304-3894; 1873-3336
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2013.07.008

•Ecological risk assessment of fluvial ecosystems.•Indexes to predict impact on aquatic organisms and terrestrial vertebrates.•Monthly average risk indexes for a list of metals and organic compounds.•Risk indexes for a list of pesticides and pharmaceutical compounds. The objective of this article is to develop and apply several simple and rough indicators for river aquatic ecosystems assessment in order to screen potential chemical stressors. Several indicators, based on toxicity (PNEC) and on legislation levels (EQS) have been developed. All these indicators are ratios that were calculated by using public and private data of concentrations of a large list of compounds during a period of five years, including metals and organic compounds in the lower part of the Llobregat river basin at the intake of the drinking water treatment plant. Additionally, new campaigns were executed for increasing the information available on the presence of compounds not routinely analyzed, such as some other pesticides and pharmaceuticals. In the case of inorganic pollutants, the indicators obtained in this river section showed significant risk especially for zinc, but also for copper, nickel and barium. For organic pollutants, the pesticides terbuthylazine, diazinon, 2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic (MCPA), and in a few cases, chlorpyrifos and lindane, also showed indexes above the threshold. Among the pharmaceuticals, the antibiotics clarithromycin and ciprofloxacin were the only ones with risk indicators adverse to ecosystems. The specific values of the indexes obtained rely on the quantity and quality of the data available, so their interpretation should take into account that some values can be high due to the use of too conservative toxicological information.