Screening risk assessment tools for assessing the environmental impact in an abandoned pyritic mine in Spain.
This paper describes a new methodology for assessing site-specific environmental impact of contaminants. The proposed method integrates traditional risk assessment approaches with real and variable environmental characteristics at a local scale. Environmental impact on selected receptors was classified for each environmental compartment into 5 categories derived from the whole (chronic and acute) risk assessment using 8 risk levels. Risk levels were established according to three hazard quotients (HQs) which represented the ratio of exposure to acute and chronic toxicity values. This tool allowed integrating in only one impact category all the elements involved in the standard risk assessment. The methodology was applied to an abandoned metal mine in Spain, where high levels of As, Cd, Zn and Cu were detected. Risk affecting potential receptors such as aquatic and soil organisms and terrestrial vertebrates were assessed. Whole results showed that impact to the ecosystem is likely high and further investigation or remedial actions are necessary. Some proposals to refine the risk assessment for a more realistic diagnostic are included.
Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain. eduardo.moreno@uam.es
Eduardo
E
Moreno-Jiménez
Concepción
C
García-Gómez
Ana Lourdes
AL
Oropesa
Elvira
E
Esteban
Amparo
A
Haro
Ramón
R
Carpena-Ruiz
Jose Vicente
JV
Tarazona
Jesus Manuel
JM
Peñalosa
María Dolores
MD
Fernández
D000818:Animals; D004777:Environment; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000633:toxicity; D020387:Food Chain; D007501:Iron; D008906:Mining; D009835:Oligochaeta / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D013030:Spain; D013440:Sulfides; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000633:toxicity
D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D013440:Sulfides; D014131:Trace Elements; C011342:pyrite; D007501:Iron