Heavy Metals In The Aquatic Environment

The role of the European Community in developing environmental legislation has focused the minds of pollution control agencies and industrialists on the need for, and the evidence to support, water quality standards. This is particularly so for the Dangerous Substances Directive which has led to European standards for cadmium, mercury and lindane. Additionally the United Kingdom has published standards for six other non-ferrous metals. In this book I have sought to review the aquatic toxicity information for these and other metals, not just by the collation of the results of all the published toxicity tests, but by the critical consideration of the test techniques. A surprising proportion of the reported toxicity studies for aquatic organisms are based on unsatisfactory chemical or biological methods. That such weaknesses persist at a time of limited resources for environmental research is disappointing, especially when sound metho dologies are extensively documented and widely published. Evaluation of the critically reviewed and vetted data indicates that many of the previously accepted generalisations about the toxicity of metals to aquatic life are invalid: for instance the assumption that salmonid species of fish are more susceptible to these metals than coarse fish, or that increased water hardness decreases toxicity. Too few studies have actually sought to test such hypotheses.

Aquatic chemistry is becoming both a rewarding and substantial area of inquiry and is drawing many prominent scientists to its fold. Its literature has changed from a compilation of compositional tables to studies of the chemical reactions occurring within the aquatic environments. But more than this is the recognition that human society in part is determining the nature of aquatic systems. Since rivers deliver to the world ocean most of its dissolved and particulate components, the interactions of these two sets of waters determine the vitality of our coastal waters. This significant vol ume provides not only an introduction to the dynamics of aquatic chem istries but also identifies those materials that jeopardize the resources of both the marine and fluvial domains. Its very title provides its emphasis but clearly not its breadth in considering natural processes. The book will be of great value to those environmental scientists who are dedicated to keeping the resources of the hydrosphere renewable. As the size of the world population becomes larger in the near future and as the uses of materials and energy show parallel increases, the rivers and oceans must be considered as a resource to accept some of the wastes of society. The ability of these waters and the sediments below them to accommodate wastes must be assessed continually. The key questions relate to the capacities of aqueous systems to carry one or more pollutants.

This book highlights the latest research on dissolved heavy metals in drinking water and their removal.

This book presents an integrated and holistic discussion on cadmium, lead and mercury toxicity in aquatic environments, expanding general concepts on chemical speciation effects and exploring specific environmental toxicological issues, exposure routes, and bioanalytical approaches for their determination and assessments on their intracellular deleterious effects. It contains worldwide and regional aspects on cadmium, lead and mercury occurrence, fate, and toxicity, addressing key environmental exposure and health risk concerns to both humans and aquatic organisms. Our book is of interest to anyone conducting research in the broad fields of oceanography, geochemistry, ecotoxicology, and environmental and public health.

Heavy Metals in the Aquatic Environment contains the proceedings of an international conference held in Nashville, Tennessee in December 1973. This conference is co-sponsored by the International Association on Water Pollution Research, the Sport Fishing Institute, the American Fishing Tackle Manufacturers Association, and Vanderbilt University's Department of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering. Contributors focus on the hazards posed by heavy metals present in the aquatic environment and how to control them. This text consists of 45 chapters divided into eight sections. This book assesses the environmental impact of heavy metals found in the aquatic environment; the economic impact of removing them from waste effluents; and the costs vs. benefits attained by their removal. The social costs are also evaluated. After an introduction to dose-response relationships resulting from human exposure to methylmercury compounds, the discussion turns to the toxicity of cadmium in relation to itai-itai disease; the effects of heavy metals on fish and aquatic organisms; and the analytical methods used for measuring concentrations of methylmercury and other heavy metals. The next sections explore the transport, distribution, and removal of heavy metals, along with regulations, standards, surveillance, and monitoring aimed at addressing the problem. This book will be of interest to planners and policymakers involved in water pollution control.

Metal Metabolism in Aquatic Environments is a synthesis of recent developments in the field of metal ecotoxicology and features a number of contemporary issues arising from the interaction of metals and biota, such as pathways of assimilation and food chain transfer, metal accumulation and detoxification in humans and biotransformation of elements such as mercury and arsenic.

The aim of this volume is to draw together state-of-the-art reviews of knowledge onlevels of heavy metals in marine environments (particularly in marine animals), the dynamicprocesses in these systems, toxic effects, and threats presented by heavy metals in foods ofmarine origin.All heavy metals, whether biologically essential or not, have the potential to be toxicto organisms at a threshold bioavailability. Such threshold concentrations vary betweenmetals, between species and with the physicochemical characteristics of the medium, somelike copper being particularly toxic even though essential in trace amounts. Responses ofanimals to metals in their medium or food depend to a large extent on the ability of speciesto regulate levels attained in their tissues. Higher animals have the capacity to regulate levelsof many metals, while marine invertebrates can regulate some within certain limits. Whereanimals cannot regulate physiological levels of metals, an alternative strategy is to detoxifyand store metals in relatively harmless forms. Knowledge of the manner in which animals deal with potentially toxic concentrations of heavy metals is of fundamental importance in the assessment of metal pollution by analysis of metal levels in biological samples. The interaction of heavy metals with biological materials is a key theme running through this volume. Toxic effects may be reflected at the individual, population, or ecosystem level, affecting species composition and production levels, or may be of direct dietary significance to man. The global cycling of metals through the marine environment is crucially affected by biological processes.

Highlighted in this compilation of papers is the role and importance of heavy metals in the environment. It provides up-to-date information in a field of active research and progress, where the focus is on effects and interactions between the environment and organisms, as well as contaminant dynamics. Several papers address the impact of heavy metals on our health. The influence of metals on plants is described in an exhaustive study on lichens, which have been widely used as biomonitors for environmental contamination by heavy metals. Metals are also accumulated by animals, as seen in a chapter which focusses on sediment/benthic organism interactions and biomonitoring in fish. Soil interactions are discussed, as well as regional studies of freshwater sediments and the marine environment. The final part of the book addresses a crucial problem: the management of stabilized municipal waste sludges. As a result, the most important and significant recent trends are included, emphasizing interactions with and impacts of heavy metals on humans, animals, plants and soils.