Increasing concentrations of arsenic and vanadium in (southern) Swedish streams

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate temporal trends and controlling factors of As and V in running waters throughout Sweden. For this purpose, data on stream water chemistry from 62 streams of varying catchment size and characteristics, included in the Swedish environmental monitoring programmes were evaluated. The geochemical software Visual MINTEQ was used to model the speciation and trend analyses were performed on total concentrations of As and V as well as modelled fractions (dissolved species as well as arsenate and vanadate adsorbed to ferrihydrite). The trend analyses showed increasing total concentrations of As and V in southern Sweden. Concentrations of As and V correlated significantly to Fe concentrations in 59 and 60 of the 62 streams respectively, indicating that Fe is an important determining factor for As and V concentrations in Swedish streams. This was confirmed by the geochemical modelling that indicated that the adsorbed fraction is the dominant form of As and V and that the concentrations of As and V in Swedish streams are thus highly determined by concentrations of colloidal or particulate Fe. It is therefore suggested that the increasing trends of As and V are to a large extent due to increasing concentrations of colloidal Fe, which is stabilised by increasing concentrations of DOC. Further the geochemical modelling indicates that the dissolved fraction of As and V generally is small, with the exception of a few streams with high pH and/or phosphate concentrations.