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Khezami F, Gómez-Navarro O, Barbieri MV, Khiari N, Chkirbene A, Chiron S, Khadhar S, Pérez S. Occurrence of contaminants of emerging concern and pesticides and relative risk assessment in Tunisian groundwater. Sci Total Environ 2024; 906:167319. [PMID: 37742978 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2023] [Revised: 09/12/2023] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 09/26/2023]
Abstract
Groundwater is an important source for drinking water supply, agricultural irrigation and industrial uses in the Middle East and North Africa region. Due to the growing need for groundwater use, groundwater quality studies on the presence of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and pesticides have gained attention. The Wadi El Bey is one of the most polluted areas in Tunisia. However, very limited data on CECs infiltration into aquifers has been described, in comparison to industrialized countries where groundwater contamination has been comprehensively addressed. To gain early insight into potential contamination, groundwater wells in northeast Tunisia, an area with high population density and intensive agricultural activity were sampled during two seasons and were analyzed with two high resolution mass spectrometry approaches: target and suspect screening. The latter was used for screening banned pesticides. A selection of 116 CECs of which 19 are transformation products (TPs) and 20 pesticides previously prioritized by suspect screening were screened in the groundwater samples. The results showed the presence of 69 CECs and 1 TP and 20 pesticides at concentrations per well, ranging between 43 and 7384 ng L-1 and 7.3 and 80 ng L-1, respectively. CECs concentrations in Tunisian groundwater do not differ from those in industrialized countries. WWTPs were considered the main source of pollution, where the main classes detected were analgesics, antihypertensives and artificial sweeteners and especially caffeine, salicylic acid and ibuprofen were found to be ubiquitous. Regarding pesticides, triazines herbicides and carbamates insecticides pose the highest concern due to their ubiquitous presence, high leachability potential for most of them and high toxicity. The environmental risk assessment (ERA) highlighted the high risk that caffeine, ibuprofen, and propoxur may pose to the environment, and consequently, to non-target organisms. This study provides occurrence and ERA analysis of CECs and pesticides in Tunisian groundwater.
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Affiliation(s)
- Farah Khezami
- Laboratory of Georessources, Technopole of Borj Cedria, University Carthage, Soliman, Tunisia
| | | | - Maria Vittoria Barbieri
- UMR HydroSciences Montpellier, University of Montpellier, IRD, CNRS, 15 Av. Charles Flahault, 34093 Montpellier, France
| | - Nouha Khiari
- Laboratory of Georessources, Technopole of Borj Cedria, University Carthage, Soliman, Tunisia
| | - Anis Chkirbene
- LR16AGR02 Water Science and Technology Research Laboratory, National Institute of Agronomy, University of Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Serge Chiron
- UMR HydroSciences Montpellier, University of Montpellier, IRD, CNRS, 15 Av. Charles Flahault, 34093 Montpellier, France
| | - Samia Khadhar
- Laboratory of Georessources, Technopole of Borj Cedria, University Carthage, Soliman, Tunisia
| | - Sandra Pérez
- ONHEALTH, IDAEA-CSIC, C/Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
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Khiari N, Charef A, Atoui A, Azouzi R, Khalil N, Khadhar S. Southern Mediterranean coast pollution: Long-term assessment and evolution of PAH pollutants in Monastir Bay (Tunisia). Mar Pollut Bull 2021; 167:112268. [PMID: 33838599 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2020] [Revised: 03/05/2021] [Accepted: 03/09/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
In order to evaluate the long-term pollution level(s) of Monastir Bay (Tunisian-Mediterranean coastal area), four sediment cores were collected from the meeting points between the main local streams and the marine environment and investigated. Macroscopic observations and granulometric and chemical compositions showed that this Bay received heterogeneous materials. The distribution of 15 total PAH (priority pollutants) concentrations in different levels of core sediments ranged from 222 to 2992 μg kg-1. Thus, the Bay had been polluted for a long time, and sediments and pollutants had varied anthropogenic sources. After that, local hydrodynamism controlled their distributions. Molecular-weight Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and calculated LMW/HMW ratios showed that pollutants were principally a mixture of pyrolytic and petrogenic sources. One part of these pollutants had local origins, and the most important amounts were of distant origins. Monastir Bay was considered a moderate to highly polluted area, and sediments had an ecosystem risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nouha Khiari
- Laboratory of Georessources, technopole of Borj Cedria, 273, University Carthage, Soliman 8020, Tunisia; University of Tunis El Manar, Faculty of Mathematical Physical and Natural Sciences of Tunis, 20 Tolède Street, 2092, Tunisia
| | - Abdelkrim Charef
- Laboratory of Georessources, technopole of Borj Cedria, 273, University Carthage, Soliman 8020, Tunisia.
| | - Abdelfattah Atoui
- Ministry of Equipment, Housing and Territorial Development, Directorate of Urban Hydraulics (DHU), Hadi Chaker Street SakietEzzit Sfax 3021, Tunisia
| | - Rim Azouzi
- Laboratory of Georessources, technopole of Borj Cedria, 273, University Carthage, Soliman 8020, Tunisia; University of Tunis El Manar, Faculty of Mathematical Physical and Natural Sciences of Tunis, 20 Tolède Street, 2092, Tunisia
| | - Nadia Khalil
- Laboratory of Georessources, technopole of Borj Cedria, 273, University Carthage, Soliman 8020, Tunisia; University of Tunis El Manar, Faculty of Mathematical Physical and Natural Sciences of Tunis, 20 Tolède Street, 2092, Tunisia
| | - Samia Khadhar
- Laboratory of Georessources, technopole of Borj Cedria, 273, University Carthage, Soliman 8020, Tunisia
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