EcologicalIndicators60(2016)548–556
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Ecological
Indicators
j ou rn a l h om ep a g e :w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e /e c o l i n d
Identification
of
hot
spots
within
harbour
sediments
through
a
new
cumulative
hazard
index.
Case
study:
Port
of
Bari,
Italy
Matilda
Mali
a,∗,
Maria
Michela
Dell’Anna
a,
Piero
Mastrorilli
a,
Leonardo
Damiani
a,
Nicola
Ungaro
b,
Ainara
Gredilla
c,
Silvia
Fdez-Ortiz
de
Vallejuelo
caDICATECh,PolitecnicodiBari,viaOrabona,4I-70125Bari,Italy
bARPAPUGLIA,CorsoTrieste,27I-70126Bari,Italy
cDepartmentofAnalyticalChemistry,FacultyofScienceandTechnology,UniversityoftheBasqueCountryUPV/EHU,P.O.Box644,48080Bilbao,
BasqueCountry,Spain
a
r
t
i
c
l
e
i
n
f
o
Articlehistory:
Received20March2015
Receivedinrevisedform13July2015
Accepted19July2015 Keywords: Pollutionhazard Harbour Sedimentquality Metals
Polycyclicaromatichydrocarbons(PAHs)
Polychlorinatedbiphenyls(PCBs)
Ecotoxicologicaltests
a
b
s
t
r
a
c
t
Whilenumerousqualityguidelinesunquestionablydrivethemanagementofharboursediments,port
managersincreasinglyrequireeasy-to-usetoolssupportingtheminassessingthesedimentquality.In
thiswork,anewhazardindex,namedcumulativeNormalizedandWeightedAverageConcentration
(cNWAC),isproposed,consideringtheconcentrationsofmainhazardous,toxicandbio-accumulative
sedimentcontaminants.ThisindexisanupgradedversionofthepreviouslyintroducedNWACindex,
whichconsideredonlythemetalconcentrations.ThecNWACvaluesrangefrom0to10scores,andtheir
visualizationonacolourbasecodemapleadstoaneasyidentificationofhotspots.Theapplicabilityof thenewindexwasverifiedusingadatasetderivedfromtheanalysesof42samplescollectedatdifferent
depthsoftheseabedofthePortofBari(Italy).Theconcentrationsof58parameterswereconsidered,
namely11metalsandmetalloids,17congenersofpolychlorinatedbiphenyls(PCBs),16congenersof
polycyclicaromatichydrocarbons(PAHs),further11organicmicropollutants,totalorganiccarbon(TOC)
andnutrients(Ntot,Ptot).Forthestudyarea,theobtainedcNWACvaluesresultedwellcorrelatedtothe
correspondingvaluesofthecommonlyusedmeanEffectsRangeMedianquotient(mERMq),andsimilar
hazardcategoriesweredevelopedforthenewindex,evenifthelatterdonotnecessarilyexplainthe
realsedimenttoxicity,becausetheywerederivedfromadifferentsedimentdatasetanddifferenttest
species.
Moreover,thehazardpredictiveabilityofthenewindexwasverified(withsatisfactoryresults)by
testingtheconsideredsamplesbyeco-toxicologicalassays,usingthreedifferentbiologicalspecies,and
comparingtheobtainedresultstothecorrespondinghazardcategoriesdevelopedforcNWAC.
©2015ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.
1. Introduction
Sedimentsareanessentialanddynamicpartoftheport;their qualityandquantityareintegraltoecosystemhealthanda fun-damentalcomponentoftheregionaleconomy.Manyhazardous, toxicand bioaccumulativechemicals,suchasmetals, polycyclic aromatichydrocarbons,polychlorinatedbiphenyls,chlorophenols, organotin compounds, organochlorine pesticides and aliphatic petroleum hydrocarbons are continuously leaked into the port duetoshippingtraffic,loading,repairs,dredgingandother activ-ities, aswell asrainwater runoff, effluentdischarges, dust, etc.
∗Correspondingauthor.Tel.:+390805963666;fax:+390805963414.
E-mailaddress:[email protected](M.Mali).
(Guerra-GarciaandGarciaGomez,2005;Casado-Martìnezetal., 2009;Szlinder-Richertetal.,2012).
Thecontaminants,whicharefoundonlyintraceamountsin water,tendtobeadsorbedintobothinorganicandorganic mate-rialeventuallysettledinsediments.Iftheconcentrationofthese contaminantsinthewatercolumnishighenough,sedimentsmay accumulateexcessivequantitiesofcontaminantsthatdirectlyand indirectlydisrupttheecosystem.Indeed,manystudieshave docu-mentedtheimportanceofsedimentcontaminationforecosystem quality(Burton,2002,2013;Chapmanetal.,2002,2013;Chapman, 2007;Schintuetal.,2015).Moreover,numerousefforts,resources andmoneyarecontinuouslyspentinmanycountriesinanattempt tocleanuporremovecontaminatedsediments,inordertorestore ecosystemqualityanddevelopbeneficialusesfordredged materi-als(SustainableManagementofSedimentResources,2007). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.07.024
