Dioxin in the Elbe river basin: policy and science under the water framework directive 2000–2015 and toward 2021

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Autor/in:
Verlag/Körperschaft:
Hamburg University of Technology
Erscheinungsjahr:
2016
Medientyp:
Text
Schlagworte:
  • Activated carbon
  • Biota-EQS
  • Bitterfeld region
  • Chemical status
  • Dredged materials
  • Flood risks
  • Marine strategy
  • NGOs
  • RBC Elbe
  • Sediment management concept
  • 500: Naturwissenschaften
  • 570: Biowissenschaften, Biologie
  • 500
  • 570
Beschreibung:
  • A critical review of the last 25 years of dioxin policy in the Elbe river catchment is presented along seven main theses of the River Basin Community (RBC)-Elbe background document “Pollutants” for the Management Plan 2016–2021. In this period, polychlorinated dibenzodioxins/-furans (PCDD/Fs) and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs) will play a major role: (i) as new priority substances for which environmental quality standards (EQSs) need to be derived (Directive 2013/39/EC); (ii) in the search for innovative solutions in sediment remediation (i.e., respecting the influence of mechanical processes; Flood Risk Directive 2007/60/EC); and (iii) as indicators at the land–sea interface (Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC). In the Elbe river catchment, aspects of policy and science are closely connected, which became particularly obvious in a classic example of dioxin hot spot contamination, the case of the Spittelwasser creek. Here, the “source-first principle” of the first cycle of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) had to be confirmed in a controversy on the dioxin hot spots with Saxony-Anhalt’s Agency for Contaminated Sites (LAF). At the Spittelwasser site, the move from “inside the creek” to “along the river banks” goes parallel to a general paradigm shift in retrospective risk assessment frameworks and remediation techniques for organic chemicals (Ortega-Calvo et al. 2015). With respect to dioxin, large-scale stabilization applying activated carbon additions is particularly promising. Another important aspect is the assessment of the ecotoxicology of dioxins and dl- PCBs in context of sediment mobility and flood risk assessment, which has been studied in the project framework FloodSearch. Currently, the quality goals of the WFD to reach a “good chemical status” are not met in many catchment areas because substances such as mercury do and others probably will (PCDD/Fs and dl-PCB) exceed biota-EQS values catchment area-wide. So far, relating biota-EQS values to sediment-EQSs is not possible. To overcome these limitations, the DioRAMA project was initiated, which has led to improved approaches for the assessment of dioxin-contaminated sediment using in vitro bioassays and to a robust dataset on the interrelation between dioxins and dioxin-like compounds in sediments and biota.
Beziehungen:
DOI 10.1186/s12302-016-0075-8
Lizenzen:
  • info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
  • https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Quellsystem:
TUHH Open Research

Interne Metadaten
Quelldatensatz
oai:tore.tuhh.de:11420/1984