Chapter 8 - POPs in Marine and Freshwater Environments

Abstract

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are environmental contaminants characterized by their persistence, long-range transport and biomagnification in food chains, and bioaccumulation in humans and wildlife. The presence of POPs in the aquatic environment is not a new phenomenon; it has only become more widely evident in the last decade because continually improving chemical analysis methods have lowered the limits of detection for a wide array of chemicals tested in surface waters, sediment, and biota. Advances in analytical techniques, statistical methods, and monitoring technologies for freshwater and marine environments are capable of tracing sources and fate of several newly emerging POPs. This chapter examines the challenges associated with five emerging POPs, including the perfluorinated chemicals, certain brominated flame retardants, active ingredients in pharmaceuticals and personal care products, engineered nanomaterials, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons from oil sands. Despite advances in forensic methods, the full magnitude and significance of POPs in the aquatic environment is largely unknown. Environmental risk assessment of POPs remains particularly challenging in freshwater and marine ecosystems; exposure and effects data relevant to the aquatic environment are critical limitations, and continual releases via land runoff, precipitation, plastic litter, industrial accidents, and treated or untreated wastewaters increasingly confound the understanding environmental impacts relative to so-called background, or uncontaminated, conditions.