Chemical Contaminants in Fish and Sediment Core Samples from the Dnipro River, Ukraine, 1994

Abstract

Abstract Some aspects of the quality of fish and sediment samples with respect to contamination with organochlorine compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and several metals are addressed. Fish were obtained from three reservoirs: Kyiv, Kremenchuk and Kakhovka. Sediment cores were obtained from Kremenchuk, Zaporizhzhia and Kakhovka. Levels of contaminants in fish showed differences among species within a reservoir and among reservoirs within a species. The major organochlorine compounds found in the fish were DDT and PCBs with levels in the low ng/g range. Fish PCB levels generally tended to be higher in the Upper Kakhovka reservoir than in the other reservoirs and the congener profile suggested a local source of PCBs to that reservoir. Bream from the Kyiv reservoir had higher levels of mercury than bream from the other reservoirs even though they were of relatively small size. Lead-210 profiles in sediment cores suggested that all three cores sampled only recent time; two of the cores extended deeply enough to capture the large increase in cesium-137 from Chernobyl in 1986, and the third consisted only of material deposited after that event. Inputs of cesium-137 were high and there was no indication of decreases since 1986. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments were also high, especially in the Zaporizhzhia reservoir where concentrations consistently exceeded Canadian sediment quality guidelines by sever-alfold. Concentrations were lower in the Kakhovka reservoir but still in excess of guidelines, and they were lower yet at the most upstream core from Kremenchuk reservoir. A similar pattern was evident with several metals in sediments. Concentrations in the core from Zaporizhzhia exceeded those from Kakhovka which in turn exceeded those from Kremenchuk. Concentrations in both Zaporizhzhia and Kakhovka generally exceeded Canadian sediment quality guidelines. The general picture that emerges is one of a system of widespread chemical contamination not only with Chernobyl byproducts but also with hydrocarbons, metals and organochlorines, with significant sources downstream from the Kremenchuk site.