Characterization of anthropogenic impacts in Mediterranean intermittent rivers with chemical, ecological and hydrological indicators.

Autor: Gómez-Navarro O; ONHEALTH, IDAEA-CSIC, C/Jordi Girona 18-26, Barcelona 08034, Spain. Electronic address: ognqam@cid.csic.es., De Girolamo AM; Water Research Institute, National Research Council, Viale F. De Blasio 5, Bari 70132, Italy., Lorenz AW; Department of Aquatic Ecology, Faculty for Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany., Khadhar S; Laboratory of Georesources, Technopole of Borj Cedria, University Carthage, Soliman, Tunisia., Debieche TH; Geological Engineering Laboratory (LGG), Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, University of Jijel, Algeria., Gentile F; Department Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy., Chiron S; UMR HydroSciences Montpellier, University of Montpellier, IRD, CNRS, 15 Av. Charles Flahault, Montpellier 34093, France., Pérez S; ONHEALTH, IDAEA-CSIC, C/Jordi Girona 18-26, Barcelona 08034, Spain. Electronic address: spsqam@idaea.csic.es.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of hazardous materials [J Hazard Mater] 2024 Dec 05; Vol. 480, pp. 135951. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Sep 24.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.135951
Abstrakt: Water scarcity in the Mediterranean area has increased the number of intermittent rivers, whose flow ceases either occasionally or totally. Key elements to characterize their dynamics are water quality, hydrological, and ecological status, when wastewater effluents dominate flow. Regarding water quality, pharmaceuticals are major pollutants, and serve as indicators of wastewater presence. Intermittent rivers are biodiversity hotspots where their hydrological regime may suffer alterations associated with wastewater effluents, making them harder to characterize than perennial streams. This study aimed to integratively characterize intermittent rivers through chemical, ecological and hydrological status calculating respective indices in twenty Mediterranean intermittent wastewater-impacted rivers located in Spain, France, Italy, Algeria and Tunisia. Pharmaceuticals were used as indicators assessing their frequency of PNEC exceedance and detection; while two ecological indicators and one hydrological indicator were used to evaluate wastewater stress on catchments. All indicators displayed a noticeable decline from upper to lower parts of the rivers, proving the effect of anthropogenic stressors on the aquatic environment. The Tunisian catchment displayed the most compromised conditions across all indicators, and the Algerian site even though low concentrations were detected, five compounds exceeded PNEC thresholds. This highlights the need for increased dedication and the adoption of water pollution solutions.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: