Abstract
Members of the public in England were invited in 2010 to take part in a national metals survey, by collecting samples of littoral sediment from a standing water body for geochemical analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first national sediment metals survey using public participation and reveals a snapshot of the extent of metals contamination in ponds and lakes across England. Hg, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb concentrations exceeding sediment quality guidelines for the health of aquatic biota are ubiquitous in ponds and lakes, not just in areas with a legacy of industrial activity. To validate the public sampling approach, a calibration exercise was conducted at ten water bodies selected to represent a range of lakes found across England. Sediment concentrations of Hg, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb were measured in samples of soil, stream and littoral and deep water sediment to assess inputs. Significant differences between littoral sediment metal concentrations occur due to local variability, but also organic content, especially in upland, peat soil catchments. Variability of metal concentrations between littoral samples is shown to be low in small (<20 ha) lowland lakes. Larger and upland lakes with more complex inputs and variation in organic content of littoral samples have a greater variability. Collection of littoral sediments in small lakes and ponds, with or without voluntary participation, can provide a reliable sampling technique for the preliminary assessment of metal contamination in standing waters. However, the heterogeneity of geology, soils and history/extent of metal contamination in the English landscape, combined with the random nature of sample collection, shows that systematic sampling for evaluating the full extent of metal contamination in lakes is still required.
Highlights
Systematic, national-scale assessments of metal concentrations and potential risk of contamination in lakes and ponds are rare, not least due to the scale and logistics required in collecting representative samples
241 Page 2 of 20 river sediment trace metal data in the UK have been assessed by the extensive and precise sampling completed by the British Geological Survey’s (BGS) Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment (GBASE) project (Johnson and Breward 2004), but lake and pond metal concentrations have never been systematically surveyed at a national scale
This section is structured to show the variability of metal elements in littoral lake sediments and a comparison of littoral sediments with deep water, inflow stream sediment and local soils
Summary
Systematic, national-scale assessments of metal concentrations and potential risk of contamination in lakes and ponds are rare, not least due to the scale and logistics required in collecting representative samples. 241 Page 2 of 20 river sediment trace metal data in the UK have been assessed by the extensive and precise sampling completed by the British Geological Survey’s (BGS) Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment (GBASE) project (Johnson and Breward 2004), but lake and pond metal concentrations have never been systematically surveyed at a national scale. Public participation in environmental monitoring research has increased in recent years driven by both directed and grass root programmes of ‘environmental democratisation’ (Carolan 2006; Conrad and Hilchey 2011). The positive aspects of public participation within scientific programmes are undoubtedly many; there are limitations to what they may realistically achieve and these need to be considered and discussed openly (Riesch et al 2013; Rose et al 2016)
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