Contamination and Ecological Risk Assessment of Long-Term Polluted Sediments with Heavy Metals in Small Hydropower Cascade

Yovana Todorova (), Stilyana Lincheva, Ivaylo Yotinov and Yana Topalova
Additional contact information
Yovana Todorova: Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
Stilyana Lincheva: Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
Ivaylo Yotinov: Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
Yana Topalova: Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2016, vol. 30, issue 12, No 8, 4184 pages

Abstract: Abstract The identification of contamination level and ecological risks, associated with heavy metal pollution of sediments in small hydropower cascade was done on the base of index analyses approach. The concentration of As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb, Zn, total organic carbon and percentage of fines were determined in sediments of two habitats in cascade sequence – river and dam. Correlation and multivariate analyses suggest that As, Cu, Pb and Zn are associated with similar anthropogenic source. Cadmium and mercury originate from different source and have specific moving. Based on the contamination and background indices the sediments in Middle Iskar cascade are moderate contaminated at least and are subject of intensive hydrological and technological mixing. The potential ecological risk index (PERI) classifies the sediments in dam site with the higher risk level. Suitable indicators for express assessment of metal pollution in “river” sediments are contamination/enrichment indices which are more sensitive for local concentration increase of less toxic metals. In “dam” sites the process of sedimentation affects strongly the degree of metals accumulation and differences in toxicity are clearly presented – PER/PERI in combination with content of fine sediment fractions and TOC have a potential for rapid identification of sediment-associated risks.

Keywords: Small hydropower plant cascade; Sediments; Contamination; Ecological risk assessment; Heavy metals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11269-016-1413-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:waterr:v:30:y:2016:i:12:d:10.1007_s11269-016-1413-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11269

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-016-1413-8

Access Statistics for this article

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) is currently edited by G. Tsakiris

More articles in Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) from Springer, European Water Resources Association (EWRA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().