Endocrine disrupter nonylphenol and bisphenol A contamination in Okinawa and Ishigaki Islands, Japan--within coral reefs and adjacent river mouths

Certain chemicals possess the potential to modulate endocrine systems, and thereby interfere with reproduction and developmental processes in the wild. We analyzed endocrine disrupters nonylphenol (NP) and bisphenol A (BPA) levels at various sites in Okinawa and Ishigaki Islands, Japan. River-water samples showed undetectable to low concentrations of NP and BPA at most of the sites investigated. However, an appreciable amount of BPA was detected in sediments at one coral reef site. In addition, significant numbers of river sediment samples showed appreciable amounts of NP and BPA. Most of the sampling sites for this study are located within a distance of 1 km from the coral reefs, which are under influence of river-waters to a variable extent. Therefore, influence of endocrine disrupters may have already begun on adjacent coral reefs. Both endocrine disrupters were positively correlated with human population densities, but not with the contents of red soil generated by farm land reformation. Therefore, it is concluded that NP and BPA pollution is a consequence of human waste discharge, both domestic and industrial, and not by agricultural activities.     

Heavy metal pollution in Suva harbour sediments,Fiji

In Fiji, contamination of the coastal environment by heavy metals is proving to be a real concern. This work reports for the first time analyses carried out on an extensive basis, to ascertain the extent of anthropogenic contamination by heavy metals in the <0.063 mm surface sediments of Suva harbour. Sediment samples from 40 sites selected within the harbour were collected and analysed for five heavy metals. The levels of the metals range from 21.4 to 143.0 ± 0.1 mg/kg Cu, 1.40 to 4.87 ± 0.07 wt.% Fe, 22.1 to 93.5 ± 0.3 mg/kg Pb, 40.2 to 269.0 ± 0.3 mg/kg Zn and 1.1 to 2.6 ± 0.2 mg/kg Sn. With reference to the pristine area of the Great Astrolabe, in Kadavu, the acquired data from the harbour are indicative of heavy metal pollution. This could be attributed to the numerous industrial and commercial activities at Wailada and Walu Bay industrial areas, the municipal dump located at the Suva foreshore and the Suva wharf. The pollution is further compounded by the high population density in Suva city.     

Levels and congener distributions of PCDDs,PCDFs and dioxin-like PCBs in environmental and human samples: a review

The term “dioxins” is often used in a confusing way. In toxicological considerations—and also in the present report—the term is used to designate the PCDDs, the PCDFs and the coplanar (“dioxin-like”) PCBs, since these classes of compounds show the same type of toxicity. Because of the large number of congeners, relevant individual congeners are assigned with a toxic equivalency factor (TEF) that relate their toxicity to that of tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) (2,3,7,8-TCDD) and are to be evaluated as dioxins. Each concentration of an individual congener in a mixture is multiplied with its TEF, and the resulting TCDD equivalents are added up and expressed as WHO-endorsed toxic equivalents (WHO-TEQ). Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) are mainly the by-products of industrial processes (such as metallurgical processing, bleaching of paper pulp, and the manufacturing of some herbicides and pesticides) but they can also result from natural processes like volcanic eruptions and forest fires. Waste incineration, particularly if combustion is incomplete, is among the largest contributors to the release of PCDDs and PCDFs into the environment. Due to their persistence, PCDDs, PCDFs and PCBs are part of the so-called persistent organic pollutants group of compounds that also include some chlorinated pesticides. Since they have a high lipophilicity and resist transformation, they bio-accumulate in animal and human adipose tissues. Consumption of food is considered as the major source of non-occupational human exposure to PCDD/Fs with foodstuffs from animal origin accounting for more than 90% of the human body burden. With meat, dairy, and fish products being the main contributors. The aim of the present review was to summarize experimental data regarding dioxin emissions from contaminated and uncontaminated biological and environmental samples, from the available literature. The information will be presented chronologically with respect to distribution in human milk, serum; food, water, air, soils and sediments.     

Tributyltin pollution in sediments from Alexandria's coastal areas

Presence of Tributyltin (TBT) in Alexandria’s coastal water areas has been demonstrated by measuring concentrations of this compound. The TBT was measured in sediments from three docking areas namely: Western Harbour, Eastern Harbour and Abu Qir Bay. The sediment of those areas has been affected by marine traffic and other industrial activities. This is reflected by the distribution of TBT in the sediments nearby the shipyards in the three docking areas of the region where the average values of 258.6 ηg TBT/g for Western Harbour; 126.4 ηg TBT/g dw for Abu Qir Bay and 42.3 ηg TBT/g dw for the Eastern Harbour were recorded. This fact reflects the effect of industry and marine traffic on the marine environments of the Alexandria region.     

Heavy metals in albanian coastal sediments

Heavy metals (Fe, Mn, Cr, Ni, Cu, Cd, Pb, Sn) concentration has been determined on 39 coastal sediment samples collected in Albania. The relationship between the heavy metals content and the grain size has been considered. All metals, except Cu and Cd, resulted accumulated in the finest fraction, which constituted up to 95% of most of the considered sediments. A good correlation has been found for Ni, Cr, Fe, Zn, Cu in the entire area, indicating a common origin for these metals in the analyzed sediments. Concentration values fall in the range reported for Dinaric chain derived sediments, revealing, generally, a natural origin of the metal contents. Though in some selected areas such as the Drin and the Skumbin Bay, an antropogenic input of Cr, Fe, Ni and Cu can be observed, as the result of discharging of mines and smelter activities.     

镇江市金山湖沉积物磷元素分布特征研究

以镇江市金山湖为研究区域,于2019年1月（冬季）和2019年7月（夏季）采集了10个点位的表层沉积物样品,参照欧洲标准测试测量组织建立的沉积物磷形态分析方法（SMT）测定沉积物总磷（TP）、无机磷（IP）、有机磷（OP）、铁/铝-磷（Fe/Al-P）和钙-磷（Ca-P）质量分数,研究金山湖表层沉积物磷元素及其赋存形态的季节分布特征。结果表明,金山湖表层沉积物中TP质量分数在冬、夏季分别为727.39~1 073.70 mg/kg和700.90~1 002.17 mg/kg,处于中等污染水平;金山湖表层沉积物磷以IP为主,IP在TP中的占比在冬、夏季分别为68.58%~88.86%,73.09%~87.21%;除了Fe/Al-P以外,OP作为生物有效磷源,其冬、夏季质量分数分别为69.37~190.93 mg/kg和108.45~210.42 mg/kg;其平均值分别为129.01,160.15 mg/kg。金山湖冬、夏季沉积物各形态磷质量分数所占比例均表现为Ca-P>Fe/Al-P>OP,表明该研究区域沉积物以Ca-P占优势。金山湖表层沉积物pH值呈现弱碱性,通过Ca-P直接释放到上覆水中的磷较少,故金山湖沉积物磷元素的潜在风险较小。各形态磷的相关性分析结果发现,冬季沉积物TP与Fe/Al-P、IP呈极显著正相关（P<0.01）。夏季沉积物TP与IP、Fe/Al-P之间呈极显著正相关（P<0.01）,与Ca-P呈显著正相关（P<0.05）。此外,金山湖沉积物OP、Fe/Al-P以及Ca-P的来源不一致。pH值对沉积物IP会产生一定影响,而其余磷形态则受pH值的影响程度较小。     

Pattern recognition and classification of sediments according to their metal content using chemometric tools. A case study: the estuary of Nerbioi-Ibaizabal River (Bilbao, Basque Country)

Chemometrics are increasingly used in environmental monitoring studies, but are still far from being accepted as routine tools by field specialists. The multivariate character of usually highly correlated environmental data recommends the use of advanced chemometrics as part of the analytical methodology in order to get information on the basic structure of data. In this work, we have applied a battery of non-supervised (Principal Component Analysis (PCA)) and supervised (k-Nearest Neighbour (k-NN), Soft Independent Modelling of Class Analogies (SIMCA), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs)) multivariate techniques on a specific environmental dataset. The dataset consists on the concentration of 14 elements (Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sn, V and Zn) in 95 sediments collected at eight different locations of the estuary of the Nerbioi-Ibaizabal River (Bilbao, Basque Country) during 12 sampling campaigns conducted every 3 months between 2005 and 2008. The study aims to present a simple methodology of general applicability which may result in a flexible and practical tool to assess chemical pollution in sediments of a given specific site.     

Eighty-year sedimentary record of heavy metal inputs in the intertidal sediments from the Nanliu River estuary, Beibu Gulf of South China Sea

²¹⁰Pb analysis in the sediment core C11 was used to reconstruct the historical fluxes of Hg, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr and As in the Nanliu River estuary during the last ∼81 year. The ²¹⁰Pb_xs-derived sedimentation rates, molar C/N ratios, enrichment factors and excess fluxes indicated that the natural inputs prevailed till the early 1990s. When the erosion related to land-use modifications enhanced, it promoted higher accumulation rates of the sedimentary material. In the recent sediments they were found a moderate enrichment of Cd and Hg (maximum 3.5- and 2.8-fold corresponding to the local background levels, respectively) and a slight enrichment of Cr, Zn, As and Pb (maximum 1.3-, 1.3-, 1.3- and 1.2-fold, respectively). The excess metal fluxes also showed a consistently increasing tread since the early 1990s, which could be associated with the intensive use of phosphate fertilizers and the combustion of fossil fuels derived from human activities.     

Sediment quality guidelines for copper and zinc for filter-feeding estuarine oysters?

Sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) assess the ability of bottom sediment to sustain healthy infauna and water quality guidelines (WQGs) provide protection for a designated percentage of aquatic species. Filter-feeding marine species, e.g. oysters and mussels, acquire food from particles in the water column and protection of these animals is not provided by SQGs or WQGs. The current work investigated the relationship between metal (Cu, Zn) concentrations in total and fine-fraction (<62.5 μm) surficial sediment digested in a range of acids and chelating agents and oyster tissue metal concentrations. A strong correlation between oyster tissue Cu and Zn concentrations and fine-fraction surficial sediment digested in 1 M HCl provided a sedimentary guideline which predicted tissue metal concentrations in oysters and established a level (<45 μg g⁻¹ and <1000 μg g⁻¹, respectively) for protecting oysters from exceeding human consumption levels (70 μg g⁻¹ and 1000 μg g⁻¹, respectively).     

Occurrence of polycyclic musks in wastewater and receiving water bodies and fate during wastewater treatment

The occurrence of cashmerane (DPMI), celestolide, phantolide, traesolide (ATII), galaxolide (HHCB) and tonalide (AHTN) in sewage and surface waters and their fate during wastewater treatment and anaerobic sludge digestion is investigated. AHTN and HHCB are the most important representatives and influent concentrations of 0.41-1.8 and 0.9-13 μg L⁻¹ are observed. DPMI is detected in influent and effluent samples but in notably lower concentrations than AHTN and HHCB. Major sources of polycyclic musks are households, whereas industrial emitters seem to be of minor importance. This conclusion is supported by the analysis of selected industrial wastewaters (metal, textile and paper industry). Specific emissions of 0.36 ± 0.19 and 1.6 ± 1.0 mg cap⁻¹ d⁻¹ for AHTN and HHCB are calculated. Overall removal efficiencies between approx 50% and more than 95% are observed during biological wastewater treatment and removal with the excess sludge is the major removal pathway. Log K_D values of 3.73-4.3 for AHTN, 3.87-4.34 for HHCB and 2.42-3.22 for DPMI are observed in secondary sludge. During sludge digestion no or only slight removal occurred. Mean polycyclic musk concentrations in digested sludge amounted to 1.9 ± 0.9 (AHTN), 14.2 ± 5.8 (HHCB), 0.8 ± 0.4 (ATII) and 0.2 ± 0.09 (DPMI) mg kg⁻¹ dry matter. In the receiving water systems a comparable distribution as during wastewater treatment is observed. AHTN, HHCB and DPMI are detected in surface waters (ND (not detected) - < 0.04, ND - 0.32 and ND - 0.02 μg L⁻¹) as well as AHTN and HHCB in sediments (ND - 20, ND - 120 μg kg⁻¹). For HHCB an apparent K_OC value of 4.1-4.4 is calculated for sediments. Major source for polycyclic musks in surface waters are discharges from wastewater treatment plants. For HHCB and DPMI 100% of the load observed in the sampled surface waters derive from discharges of treated wastewater.