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Meybeck M, Lestel L, Carré C, Bouleau G, Garnier J, Mouchel JM. Trajectories of river chemical quality issues over the Longue Durée: the Seine River (1900S-2010). Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 2018; 25:23468-23484. [PMID: 27392629 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-016-7124-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [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: 02/19/2016] [Accepted: 06/20/2016] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
River quality trajectories are presented for (i) organic pollution, (ii) eutrophication, (iii) nitrate pollution, and (iv) metal contamination over the Longue Durée (130 to 70 years). They are defined by a quantified state indicator (S) specific to each issue, compared to drivers (D) or pressures (P) and to social responses (R) that reflect the complex interactions between society and river quality. The Lower Seine River, naturally sensitive to anthropogenic pressures, greatly impacted by Paris urban growth, industrialization, and intensive agriculture, and well documented by the PIREN-Seine 25-year research program, was chosen to illustrate these trajectories. State indicators, dissolved oxygen, algal pigments, nitrate, and heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb, Zn) in sediments have only been monitored by river basin authorities since 1971. Therefore, their past changes have been reconstructed using three approaches: (i) reassessment of historical sources, (ii) pressure-state models that reconstruct past water quality, and (iii) sedimentary archives of past persistent contamination from dated floodplain cores. The indicators were then transformed into river quality status using contemporary water quality criteria throughout these records. Each environmental issue shows specific trajectories because each has its own relationship between the issue evidence and the social response, but all are characterized by very poor quality in the past, largely ignored: the long-term summer hypoxia (<1880-1995), the summer eutrophication peak (1965-2005), the growing nitrate level since the 1950s, recently stabilized but still high, and the extreme metal contamination (>1935-2000) that peaked in the 1960s. The efficiency of social responses has been highly variable but more efficient in the last 15-25 years.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Meybeck
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, EPHE, UMR 7619 Metis, 4 place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France
| | - L Lestel
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, EPHE, UMR 7619 Metis, 4 place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France.
| | - C Carré
- Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Laboratoire LADYSS-Laboratoire Dynamique Sociales et Recomposition des Espaces (UMR 7533), 2 rue Valette, 75005, Paris, France
| | - G Bouleau
- IRSTEA Bordeaux, Unité environnement, territoires, infrastructures, 50 Avenue de Verdun, 33612, Cestas, France
| | - J Garnier
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, EPHE, UMR 7619 Metis, 4 place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France
| | - J M Mouchel
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, EPHE, UMR 7619 Metis, 4 place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France
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Grosbois C, Meybeck M, Lestel L, Lefèvre I, Moatar F. Severe and contrasted polymetallic contamination patterns (1900-2009) in the Loire River sediments (France). Sci Total Environ 2012; 435-436:290-305. [PMID: 22858537 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.06.056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2012] [Revised: 06/15/2012] [Accepted: 06/15/2012] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
The Loire River basin (117,800 km(2), France) has been exposed to multiple sources of metals during the last 150 years, originating from major mining districts (coal and non-ferrous metals) and their associated industrial activities. Geochemical archives are established here from the analysis of a 4m sediment core in the downstream floodplain and then compared to stream bed sediments from pristine monolithological sub-basins and from bed and bank sediments in impacted tributaries. The contamination is assessed for 55 major and trace elements through their enrichment factors to Al (EF), normalized to the pre-anthropogenic background. Archives from 1900 to 2009 show enrichment (EF<1.3) not only for Ba, Be, Cs, Ga, Rb, REE, Sr, V, and Zr but also for U and Th, despite U mining activities until the 1990s. From 1900 to 1950, the level of contamination is severe for Hg, Au, Ag (10<EF<30), important for Sb and Sn (3<EF<7) and moderate for Cu, Pb and Zn (1.5<EF<3). This state was mostly attributed to coal uses and metal mining. During the period 1950-1980, severe polymetallic contamination is noted for Hg (EF up to 53), Cd (23), Ag (18), Zn (6.2), Cu (6.0), Sn (5.6), Pb(4.8), Sb(4.4) and for new impacted elements as Bi (23.8), As (3.7), Cr (3.4), W (3.1), Mo (2.6), Ni (2.8), Co (1.65) due to mines, smelters, industries and from urban sewers, collected mostly after 1950 (total population of 8.4 million people). The limited dilution by detrital material (Loire sediment load about 1.5 Mt/year) is an additional cause of such severe contamination. After 1950, river eutrophication is well marked by the general increase of endogenic calcite (EF (Ca)=4), diluting all other elements by 20%. From 1980 to 2009, all contaminants, except Au (EF=100), decrease steadily.
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Affiliation(s)
- C Grosbois
- Université François Rabelais de Tours, EA 6293 GéHCO, Parc de Grandmont, 37200 Tours, France.
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Vörösmarty C, Lettenmaier D, Leveque C, Meybeck M, Pahl-Wostl C, Alcamo J, Cosgrove W, Grassl H, Hoff H, Kabat P, Lansigan F, Lawford R, Naiman R. Humans transforming the global water system. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2011. [DOI: 10.1029/2004eo480001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 162] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Grosbois C, Meybeck M, Horowitz A, Ficht A. The spatial and temporal trends of Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb and Zn in Seine River floodplain deposits (1994-2000). Sci Total Environ 2006; 356:22-37. [PMID: 15964611 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.01.049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2004] [Accepted: 01/31/2005] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Fresh floodplain deposits (FD), from 11 key stations, covering the Seine mainstem and its major tributaries (Yonne, Marne and Oise Rivers), were sampled from 1994 to 2000. Background levels for Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn were established using prehistoric FD and actual bed sediments collected in small forested sub-basins in the most upstream part of the basin. Throughout the Seine River Basin, FD contain elevated concentrations of Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb and Zn compared to local background values (by factors>twofold). In the Seine River Basin, trace element concentrations display substantial downstream increases as a result of increasing population densities, particularly from Greater Paris (10 million inhabitants), and reach their maxima at the river mouth (Poses). These elevated levels make the Seine one of the most heavily impacted rivers in the world. On the other hand, floodplain-associated trace element levels have declined over the past 7 years. This mirrors results from contemporaneous suspended sediment surveys at the river mouth for the 1984-1999 period. Most of these temporal declines appear to reflect reductions in industrial and domestic solid wastes discharged from the main Parisian sewage plant (Seine Aval).
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Affiliation(s)
- C Grosbois
- Laboratory Sisyphe, UMR 1367 CNRS, 4 Place Jussieu, Case 123, 75005 Paris, France.
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Simon V, Baer M, Torres L, Olivier S, Meybeck M, Della Massa JP. The impact of reduction in the benzene limit value in gasoline on airborne benzene, toluene and xylenes levels. Sci Total Environ 2004; 334-335:177-183. [PMID: 15504504 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.04.065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/01/2004] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Background benzene, toluene, xylenes (BTX) average concentrations have been measured over the urban agglomeration of Toulouse, France, during both springtime and summer periods of 1999 and 2001. The benzene average amount over the two Toulouse campaigns in 1999 is equal to 2.2 microg/m(3), very close to the French air quality standard and well under the average value of 5 microg/m(3) recommended by European Economic Community countries, recognising that those regulations are given for a whole year. BTX pollution over Toulouse has, in particular, been produced by motor vehicle exhaust gases. For the study conducted during the same periods of 2001, benzene concentrations were within the French quality value in the whole area. This is because the benzene limit value contained in gasoline went from 5% to 1% since 2000 January 1. It will be important to measure benzene over annual periods in order to know its exact values over such a period and to observe its potential seasonal variations.
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Affiliation(s)
- V Simon
- Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Ingénieurs en Arts Chimiques Et Technologiques-118, Route de Narbonne, Toulouse 31077, France.
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Meybeck M. The global change of continental aquatic systems: dominant impacts of human activities. Water Sci Technol 2004; 49:73-83. [PMID: 15195419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Continental aquatic systems, particularly rivers, are exposed to major changes due to human pressures. Some changes are voluntary such as flow regulation and the fragmentation of river courses, both due to damming, or the water consumption particularly in dry regions, which results in a partial to complete dry-up of some rivers (neo-arheism). Other changes result from indirect impacts of other human activities, and include: sediment unbalance of river systems, chemical contamination, acidification, eutrophication, thermal unbalance, radioactive contamination, microbial contamination, and aquatic species introduction/invasion. These changes can be regarded as syndromes which have now reached a global amplitude, even in less populated regions, as the result of damning, mining and of long-range atmospheric pollution, thus defining a new era, the Anthropocene, where continental aquatic systems are no longer controlled by earth systems processes but by human activities. Each region of the globe has developed specific patterns of syndromes trajectories that can be reconstructed from historical analysis and through environmental archives. These trajectories reveal multiple types of human responses to aquatic environmental issues (e.g. water quality), usually lasting 10 to 50 years for the successful ones. The reactions of the earth system to such major changes of fluxes (water, energy, nutrients, carbon, pollutants) via the continental waterscape, the land-ocean interactions, the water bodies-atmosphere interactions, are likely to take place over a longer time scale (100-1,000 years) yet are poorly addressed by scientists and not considered in Integrated Water Management, particularly as concerns the coastal zone.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Meybeck
- UMR Sisyphe, CNRS/Université Paris 6, Pace Jussieu, 75 252 Paris, France.
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Ciffroy P, Vazelle D, Mataix V, Taconnet J, Estèbe A, Thévenot D, Bourguignon O, ldlafkih Z, Meybeck M. Intercomparaison de méthodes d'échantillonnage des matières en suspension en milieu fluvial : application à la mesure de la
concentration en micropolluants métalliques. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1999. [DOI: 10.1051/hydro:1999003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
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Idlafkih Z, Cossa D, Meybeck M. Comportements des contaminants en trace dissous et particulaires (As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb, Zn) dans la Seine. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1995. [DOI: 10.1051/hydro:1995008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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