Pollution and Potential Ecological Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in the Smolnik Creek (Slovakia)

Transcription

1 1759 A publcaton of CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TRANSACTIONS VOL. 39, 2014 Guest Edtors: Petar Sabev Varbanov, Jří Jaromír Klemeš, Peng Yen Lew, Jun Yow Yong Copyrght 2014, AIDIC Servz S.r.l., ISBN ; ISSN The Italan Assocaton of Chemcal Engneerng DOI: /CET Polluton and Potental Ecologcal Rsk Assessment of Heavy Metals n the Smolnk Creek (Slovaka) Eva Sngovszka*, Magdalena Balntova Insttute of Envronmental Engneerng, Faculty of Cvl Engneerng, Techncal Unversty of Kosce, Vysokoskolska 4, Kosce, Slovaka, magdalena.balntova@tuke.sk Study of heavy metals n sedments s vtal n order to understand ther mpact on water ecosystems. They are usually present at low concentratons n aquatc envronments, but deposts of anthropogenc orgn have rased ther concentratons, causng envronmental problems n creeks. Ths research was undertaken n order determne and analyse selected heavy metals present n sedment sampled from Smolnk creek, Slovaka, whch s a hstorcal Cu, Fe, Ag, Au-mnng area that was exploted from the 14-th century to The Smolnk mne was defntely closed and flooded from 1990 tll Waters from the earth surface penetrated the mne and they were enrched wth metals and ther ph values decreased. Acdty s caused manly by the oxdaton of sulphde mnerals. The whole mne complex produce large amounts of AMD, dschargng from the flooded mne (ph = 3-4, Fe mg/l; Cu 3-1 mg/l; Zn 13-8 mg/l and Al mg/l), that acdfed and contamnated the Smolnk creek water and sedments whch transported polluton nto the Hnlec Rver catchment. The mne-system represents partly opened geochemcal system nto whch ran and surface water dran. Potental ecologcal rsk ndexes were used to study the polluton status of heavy metals n sedment and assess ther potental ecologcal rsk to envronment, for the metals Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Pb. The calculated potental ecologcal rsk ndces the level of water envronment polluton by heavy metals. 1. Introducton Heavy metals are mportant envronmental pollutants threatenng the health of human and natural ecosystems (Cruz Guzman et al., Heavy metals are consderable envronmental concern due to ther toxcty, wde source, non-bodegradable propertes and accumulatve behavours (Yu et al., 2008). Dependng on hydrodynamcs, bogeochemcal processes and envronmental condtons of rvers, sedments act as an mportant snk of heavy metals, as well as potental non pont polluton source whch may drectly affect overlyng rvers (Santos et al., 2003). To some extent, heavy metal contents n sedment can reflect the qualty of water body. Although sedments act as one of the ultmate snks for heavy metals nput nto the aquatc envronment, they cannot fx heavy metals permanently (Yu et al., 2008). Takng nto account the mportance of sedments and the toxcty of heavy metals n them, related researches have been done to understand the effects of heavy metals on ecologcal systems (Guo et al., 2010). Specfcally, opencast mnng actvtes have a serous envronmental mpact on sols (Bhattacharya et al., 2006) and water streams (Andras et al., 2012), havng generated mllons of tons of sulphde-rch talngs (Holub and Balntova, 2013). Runoff from mnng operatons can have negatve mpacts on the surroundng aquatc envronment ncludng heavy loads of suspended solds, decreased ph levels and ncreased levels of heavy metals. In Slovak republc there are some localtes wth exstng AMD generaton condtons. The most crtcal values were observed n the abandoned depost Smolnk (Petrlakova and Balntova, 2011). Because sedments are responsble for transportng a sgnfcant proporton of many hazardous contamnants, not only research and modellng of eroson phenomena s very acute), but also consderaton should be gven ther qualty and ther mpact on the aquatc envronment. The rsk assessment of heavy metals would provde a certan theory support for rsk management. For an ecologcal rsk assessment assocated wth pollutant exposure n aquatc systems, several envronmental Please cte ths artcle as: Sngovszka E., Balntova M., 2014, Polluton and potental ecologcal rsk assessment of heavy metals n the Smolnk creek (Slovaka), Chemcal Engneerng Transactons, 39, DOI: /CET

2 1760 factors must be consdered, such as chemcal physcochemcal, bologcal and ecotoxcologcal parameters. All these varables must be ntegrated and some ndexes have been appled to do t. (For et al, 2013). A number of studes have appled ths method (Ohlson and Servess, Potental ecologcal rsk ndex (R ) s a methodology developed by Hakanson to evaluate the ecologcal rsk of heavy metals n sedment (Hakanson, 1980). R can be used as a quck and practcal tool for envronmental assessment, obtanng as results the polluton classfcaton of areas and dentfcaton of the toxc substance of nterest, supportng actons for polluton control of aquatc systems (For et al., 2013). The am of ths study s to assess the sedment qualty n the Smolnk creek (Slovaka) usng potental ecologcal rsk ndex for heavy metals concentratons n the samples taken from dfferent locatons of ths creek. 2. Materals and methods 2.1 Study area The abandoned depost Smolnk s stuated n the south-eastern Slovaka between vllages Smolnk and Smolncka Huta n the valley of Smolnk creek (Fgure 1), 11 km south west of the vllage Mnsek nad Hnlcom. Geomorphologcally, the localty s stuated n the area of Slovenske Rudohore (Slovak Ore Mountans - West Carpathans). It s a hstorcal Cu, Fe, Ag, Au-mnng area that was exploted from the 14-th century to 1990 (Spaldon et al., 2006). The mne-system represents partly opened geochemcal system nto whch ran and surface water dran. The Smolnk mne was defntely closed and flooded from 1990 tll 1994 (Luptakova et al., 2007). More than 6 Mt of pyrte ores of varous qualtes have been abandoned n ths mne. The analyss of water n the deserted mne and n the broader area surroundng ths mne was made after the ecologcal accdent n the Smolnk creek n 1995 (Sottnk et al., 2002). Waters from the earth surface penetrated the mne and they were enrched wth metals and ther ph values decreased (Sngovszka and Balntova, 2012). Acdty s caused manly by the oxdaton of sulphde mnerals. The whole mne complex produce large amounts of AMD, dschargng from the flooded mne (ph = 3-4, Fe mg/l; Cu 3-1 mg/l; Zn 13-8 mg/l and Al mg/l) (Luptakova and Kusnerova, 2005), that acdfed and contamnated the Smolnk creek water whch transported polluton nto the Hnlec Rver catchment (Luptakova et al., 2008). Fgure 1: Water samplng locaton

3 Sedment samplng Sedment samplng localtes are shown n Fgure 1. Sedment was taken from fve sample ste durng Two localtes were n the upper part of the Smolnk creek wthout contamnaton by acd mne waters from shaft Pech (1 outsde the Smolnk vllage, 2 - small brdge - crossng to the shaft Pech) and another two samplng localtes were located under the shaft (4 approx. 200 m under the shaft Pech, 5 nflow to the Hnlec rver). The outflow of AMD from shaft Pech (Smolnk mne) has number 3. The chosen physcal and chemcal parameters were determned by multfunctonal equpment METTLER TOLEDO n stu and chemcal analyses of water and sedment samples were realzed by AAS-ICP (Varan Vsta MPX). Results of chemcal analyses of the sedment were compared wth the lmted values accordng to the Slovak Act No. 188/2003 Coll. of Laws on the applcaton of treated sludge and bottom sedments to felds. 3. Ecologcal rsk assessment For assessment of sedment contamnaton the contamnaton factor and contamnaton degree were used. In the verson suggested by Hakanson (1980), an assessment of sedment contamnaton was conducted through references of contamnatons n the surface layer of bottom sedments: C C f (1) Cn Where C s the mean concentraton of an ndvdual metal examned and C n s the background concentraton of the ndvdual metal. In ths work, as background concentratons the contents of selected elements n sedment unaffected by mnng actvtes n assessment area were used (Table 3). C f s the sngle element ndex. The sum of contamnaton factors for all metals examned represents the contamnaton degree (C d) of the envronment: n C d C f 1 E r s the potental ecologcal rsk ndex of an ndvdual metal. It can be calculated by E C xt (3) r f r where T r s the toxc response factor provded by Hakanson (T r for Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Pb s 5, 1, 10, 30 and 5), respectvely. R s the potental ecologcal rsk ndex, whch s the sum of E r : Table 1: Crtera for contamnaton factor and degree of contamnaton and ther classfcaton Contamnaton factor Degree of contamnaton Classfcaton C f < 1 C d < 1 Low 1 C f < 3 1 C d < 3 Moderate 3 C f < 6 3 C d < 6 Consderable C f 6 C d 6 Very hgh (2) Table 2: Rsk grades ndexes and grades of potental ecologcal rsk of heavy metal polluton E r Rsk grade R value Rsk grade E r < 40 Low rsk R < 150 Low rsk 40 E r <80 Moderate rsk 150 R < 300 Moderate rsk 80 E r <160 Consderable rsk 300 R < 600 Consderable rsk 160 E r <320 Hgh rsk R 600 Very hgh rsk E r 320 Very hgh rsk R n 1 E r (4)

4 background 1762 Hakanson (1980) defned four categores of C r, Four categores of C d, fve categores of E r categores of R, as shown n Tables 1 and 2. and four 4. Results and dscusson The total concentratons of Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Pb n sedment of Smolnk creek are presented n Table 3. The metal concentratons from two sedment sample localtes were evaluated through statstcal analyss wth SPSS 7 software and wth Mcrosoft Excel, and descrptve parameters and probablty dstrbuted are obtaned and lsted n Table 4. It s obvous that hgher concentratons of heavy metals were detected at ste 4 and ste 5 whch were located at lower reaches of the Smolnk creek. The contents of As serously exceeded Slovak Act No. 188/2003 Coll. of Laws on the applcaton of treated sludge and bottom sedments to felds. The concentratons of As n all samples transcended the standard values 2 10 tmes, respectvely. Table 3: Background concentraton and concentraton of heavy metals n sedment samples Cu Zn As Cd Pb , , , , , , , , , ,5 328 S , , , , , , ,5 176 S , , , ,5 119 Lmts 1,000 2, Table 4: Summary statstcs of heavy metals n sedment over the study area Heavy metal Mnmum concentraton Maxmum concentraton Mean concentraton Standard devaton Cu Zn As Cd Pb Based on the sngle-element ndex (C f ) and ts grade (Table 5), the sedment n Smolnk creek was classfed as consderable contamnated for all heavy metals expected Cd and Zn (moderate contamnated) for S4 sample ste. The sample ste S5 was classfed as moderate contamnated excepted Cu, whch was classfed as consderable contamnated. Based on the degree of contamnaton (C d) and ts grade (Table 5), the sedment n study area was classfed as very hgh contamnated for both sample stes (S4 = 13.97, S5 = 11.47).

5 1763 Table 5: Contamnaton factor and Degree of contamnaton n sedments from Smolnk creek Sample ste Cu Zn As Cd Pb S S C f The potental ecologcal rsk ndces were found n the followng order As > Cd > Cu > Pb > Zn (Table 6). All the values of R n the sedments were less than 150: S and S The E r value of all parameters n all samplng locatons were less than 40, whch reflects a low ecologcal rsk for the water body posed by these metals. C d Table 6: E r and R of heavy metal n sedments from Smolnk creek Sample ste Cu Zn As Cd Pb S S E r R 5. Concluson For the study of the polluton status of sedments contamnated by heavy metals and ther potental ecologcal rsk assessment the relatve potental ecologcal rsk ndces were used. The heavy metals under nvestgaton n sedments reflected low ecologcal rsk to the Smolnk creek. The results of sedments n samples taken from two locatons showed that the creek has been slghtly contamnated by heavy metals and ts polluton can be attrbuted to ndustral polluton as well as human actvtes. Ecologcal rsk management provdes polcy makers and resource managers as well as the publc wth systematc methods that can nform decson makng. The results provde comprehensve sedment contamnaton status of heavy metals and potental orgn of contamnaton n the creek, gvng nsght nto decson makng for water source securty. Acknowledgements Ths work has been supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No.APVV and by the Slovak Grant Agency for Scence (Grant No. 1/0882/11). References Andras P., Tursova I., Marno A., Buccher G., Envronmental hazards assocated wth heavy metals at Lubetová Cu-depost (Slovaka), Chemcal Engneerng Transactons, 28, DOI: /CET Bálntová M., Petrláková A., Study of ph Influence on Selectve Precptaton of Heavy Metals from Acd Mne Dranage. Chemcal Engneerng Transactons DOI: /CET Bhattacharya A., Routh J., Jacks G., Bhattacharya P., Mörth M., Envronmental assessment of abandoned mne talngs n Adak, Västerbotten dstrct (Northern Sweden), Appl. Geochem. 21, Cruz-Guzman M., Cels R., Hermonsn M.C., Kosknen W.C., Nater E.A., Conejo J., Heavy metal adsorpton by Montmorllontes modfed wth natural organc catons. Sol Sc.Soc.Am. J. 70 (1), For C.S., Rodgues A.P.C, Santell R.E., Cordero R.C., Carvalhera R.G., Araujo P.C., Casthlos Z.C., Bdone E.D., Ecologcal rsk ndex for aquatc polluton control: a case study of coastal water bodes from the Ro de Janero State, southeaster Brazl. Geochemca Braslenss, 27(1), Guo W., Lu X., Lu Z., LI G., Polluton and potental ecologcal rsk evaluaton of heavy metals n the sedments around Dongjang harbor, Tanjn. Proceda Envronmental Scence, 2, Hakanson L., An ecologcal rsk ndex for aquatc polluton control, a sedmentologcal approach. Water Research, 14, Holub M., Balntova M., Pavlkova P., Palascakova L., Study of Sorpton Propertes of Zeolte n Acdc Condtons n Dependence on Partcle Sze. Chemcal Engneerng Transactons, 32, DOI: /CET

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