Natural Background Levels of Potentially Toxic Elements in Groundwater from a Former Asbestos Mine in Serpentinite (Balangero, North Italy)

The definition of natural background levels (NBLs) for potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in groundwater from mining environments is a real challenge, as anthropogenic activities boost water–rock interactions, further increasing the naturally high concentrations. This study illustrates the procedure...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water (Basel) 2021-03, Vol.13 (5), p.735
Main Authors: Sacchi, Elisa, Bergamini, Massimo, Lazzari, Elisa, Musacchio, Arianna, Mor, Jordi-René, Pugliaro, Elisa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropogenic factors
Aquifers
Asbestos
Background levels
Baseline studies
Groundwater
Groundwater mining
Groundwater quality
Guidelines
Hydrogeochemistry
Manganese
Mineralization
Mining
Permeability
Serpentinite
Water quality
Water, Underground
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Summary:The definition of natural background levels (NBLs) for potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in groundwater from mining environments is a real challenge, as anthropogenic activities boost water–rock interactions, further increasing the naturally high concentrations. This study illustrates the procedure followed to derive PTE concentration values that can be adopted as NBLs for the former Balangero asbestos mine, a “Contaminated Site of National Interest”. A full hydrogeochemical characterisation allowed for defining the dominant Mg-HCO3 facies, tending towards the Mg-SO4 facies with increasing mineralisation. PTE concentrations are high, and often exceed the groundwater quality thresholds for Cr VI, Ni, Mn and Fe (5, 20, 50 and 200 µg/L, respectively). The Italian guidelines for NBL assessment recommend using the median as a representative concentration for each monitoring station. However, this involves discarding half of the measurements and in particular the higher concentrations, thus resulting in too conservative estimates. Using instead all the available measurements and the recommended statistical evaluation, the derived NBLs were: Cr = 39.3, Cr VI = 38.1, Ni = 84, Mn = 71.36, Fe = 58.4, Zn = 232.2 µg/L. These values are compared to literature data from similar hydrogeochemical settings, to support the conclusion on their natural origin. Results highlight the need for a partial rethink of the guidelines for the assessment of NBLs in naturally enriched environmental settings.
ISSN:2073-4441
2073-4441
DOI:10.3390/w13050735