Abstract
Fresh waters worldwide receive substantial loadings of particulate organic waste from municipal sewage collection and treatment works. This material may transport a wide variety of particle-associated contaminants. Using stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen, we detected the influence of a nearby primary sewage treatment plant on the benthic food web of a large temperate river. Despite the low concentration of wastewater and the absence of accumulated sediment, >60% of carbon and nitrogen in benthic organisms near the outfall was of sewage origin. This fraction is disproportionately high relative to the fraction of sewage-derived suspended particulate matter in the seston, suggesting preferential assimilation. Assimilation of sewage-derived particulate organic matter exposes benthos to high levels of contamination and may represent an important source of contaminants to higher trophic levels.
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