Occurrence, distribution and behaviour of contaminants of emerging concern and regulated organic pollutants. Case study: the endorheic catchment of Fuente de Piedra Lagoon (Southern Spain).&amp;#160;

Marta Llamas,Joaquín Jiménez-Martínez,Carmen Corada-Fernández,Pablo Jiménez-Gavilán,Iñaki Vadillo,Pablo Lara-Martín

doi:10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12528

Abstract

&lt;p&gt;Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) and regulated organic pollutants pose a serious threat to water quality and their spatial distribution is challenging to assess as it can be driven by several factors.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the current work, we focus on the distribution of a wide range of regulated and non-regulated organic contaminants in groundwater of the Fuente de Piedra lagoon catchment, in Southern Spain. Groundwater samples were collected and they were analyzed for (I) 185 organic contaminants and (II) water ions and stable isotopes (&amp;#948;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;H, &amp;#948;&lt;sup&gt;18&lt;/sup&gt;O and &amp;#948;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C). Target organic contaminants included pharmaceuticals, personal care products, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides, flame retardants and plastizicers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Fuente de Piedra lagoon is a hypersaline wetland located in an endorheic basin (150 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) in which three main aquifer types, with an hydraulic connection, can be distinguished: (I) unconfined carbonate aquifers with low mineralized water corresponding to two mountain ranges; (II) an unconfined porous aquifer formed by Quaternary and Miocene deposits, more exposed to pollution from anthropogenic activities; and (III) a karstic-type confined aquifer developed in a massive accumulation of evaporites and gypsum (Upper Triassic).&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In total, 32 organic contaminants were detected, at least once. An attempt to evaluate the importance of the different factors affecting the spatial distribution of the organic contaminants have been conducted. Attention has been paid to the main physico-chemical properties of the pollutants (hydrophobicity and speciation), distribution of pollution sources and anthropogenic pressures in the area (including water management practices) and hydrogeological characteristics of the different aquifers. A geochemical model has been built to characterize water mixing processes in order to better understand transport and fate of these organic contaminants.&lt;/p&gt;

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