Analysis and environmental risk assessment of priority and emerging organic pollutants in sediments from the tropical coastal megacity Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is one of the rapidly growing coastal megacities in Asia. The implementation of the urban wastewater infrastructure is not keeping up with the rapid expansion of the city, leading to a severe deterioration of water and sediment quality in the metropolitan area. The present study aimed to assess sediment contamination with organic pollutants in Jakarta rivers and the related risks to the coastal ecosystem. To this end, the site-specific and most harmful organic pollutants in the sediments were quantified, and the obtained chemical data were compared to reported sediment toxicity thresholds for an impact assessment on the benthic community.The detected pollutant spectrum included several compounds, such as the detergent residues nonylphenols and the insect repellent DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide), that were previously reported as contaminants in industrialized countries but have been banned or partly substituted. The risk of sediment contamination for benthic macroinvertebrates was associated with PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), DDT (bis(chlorophenyl)dichloroethane), nonylphenols and a synthetic fragrance. High concentrations of paper manufacturing educts, a compound class that was recently reported in industrialized areas with a flourishing paper industry, were found in Jakarta sediments. However, sediment quality guidelines or sediment toxicity thresholds for these compounds are not available, which limited the ecotoxicological risk assessment. More studies on sediment toxicities considering emerging industrial pollutants and test species from all climate regions are urgently required, as a prerequisite for an adequate impact assessment of sediment contamination.