Abstract
Road runoff carries a mixture of contaminants that threatens the quality of natural water bodies and the health of aquatic organisms. The use of sedimentation ponds is a nature-based solution for the treatment of road runoff. This study assessed the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their alkylated homologues in sediment from seven highway sedimentation ponds and three natural urban ponds. In addition, the study explored the bioaccumulation of PAHs in dragonfly nymphs (Anisoptera). Finally, biota-sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) were estimated. The results revealed a significant difference in the concentrations of 16 priority PAHs in sediment, with overall higher levels in sedimentation ponds (2,911 µg/kg on average) compared to natural urban ponds (606 µg/kg on average). PAH levels increased substantially once alkylated homologues were considered, with alkylated comprising between 42 and 87% of the total PAH in sediment samples. These results demonstrate the importance of alkylated forms in the environmental assessment of PAHs. The bioaccumulation assessment indicates that dragonfly nymphs bioaccumulate PAHs to a certain degree. It is not clear, however, whether they metabolize PAHs. BSAF results ranged from approx. 0.006 to 10 and indicate that BSAFs can be a powerful tool to determine the functionality of sedimentation ponds.
Highlights
Several PAHs and their metabolites are known to be potentially carcinogenic and m utagenic[5,6,7], and some exhibit photo-induced toxicity[8,9]
Ponds were grouped as SED—n for sedimentation ponds and NAT—n for natural urban ponds
All sedimentation ponds had higher concentrations of total PAHs compared to natural urban ponds once alkylated forms were included
Summary
Several PAHs and their metabolites are known to be potentially carcinogenic and m utagenic[5,6,7], and some exhibit photo-induced toxicity[8,9]. One of the most commonly used mitigation methods is the use of nature-based sedimentation ponds These low-cost, sustainable urban drainage systems are built to retain particle-bound contaminants, improving the quality of the runoff before its discharge into natural water bodies[14]. Quite rapidly, these ponds are colonized by a wide range of organisms, leading to the formation of small complex ecosystems in rather urban z ones[15,16]. We determined the concentration of PAHs and their alkylated homologues in sediment, and assessed bioaccumulation and biotransformation of PAHs in dragonfly nymphs from the genus Aeshna. Sediment and dragonfly nymphs from seven nature-based sedimentation ponds and three natural urban ponds were included in the study
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