Determination of Bioavailable Aluminum in Natural Waters in the Presence of Suspended Solids

Rodríguez, Patricio; Arbildua, José J.; Villavicencio, German; Urrestarazu, Paola; Opazo, Margaret; Cardwell, Allison S.; Stubblefield, William A.; Nordheim, Eirik; Adams, William J.

doi:10.1002/etc.4448

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The phenomenon has been studied intensively during the fresh water acidification and decline in fish populations in Scandinavia (Poléo et al, 1997). At acidic pH values, Al has an effect on the ion regulation in the gills whereas at neutral to alkaline pH condition it has physical effects resulting in asphyxiation once coating happens at respiratory membranes with Al hydroxides (Exley et al, 1991;Gensemer and Playle, 1999;Rodriguez et al, 2019).…”

Section: Water Quality Of Deka Rivermentioning

confidence: 99%

Community-Based Monitoring Detects Sources and Risks of Mining-Related Water Pollution in Zimbabwe

Ruppen

Chituri

Meck

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although mining and mineral processing are vital for many economies in the Global South, they are associated with enormous challenges of managing potentially devastating environmental impacts. In contexts where environmental oversight agencies often lack financial and personal capacities to fulfill their role, community-based monitoring might be a valid alternative to monitor potential environmental impacts. In this study, we present the setup and the implementation of a citizen science project to monitor water quality parameters in a river downstream of a coal mining area in Hwange, Western Zimbabwe. In a joint effort over 1.5 years, community monitors and scientists took close to 800 water samples in the Deka River and effluent channels. The data allowed identifying sources of pollution and relating these to past and present mining activities. The primary source of acid mine drainage came from abandoned underground mine sites. Illegal mine water dumping from active mine sites accentuated the problem and resulted in fish kills and food risks for the local population. Concentrations of manganese, nickel and arsenic were exceeding national fresh water guidelines and international drinking water standards. Manganese concentrations exceeded guidelines by a factor of 70 resulting in a public health risk. In this study, we showed that community-based monitoring offers a promising approach to establish a high-quality dataset for assessing mining-related risks if the implementation of sampling protocols is followed tightly. The monitoring scheme significantly improves the collection and interpretation of water quality data in challenging contexts where governmental institutions and industrial players are not enforcing environmental standards.

show abstract

Section: Water Quality Of Deka Rivermentioning

confidence: 99%

Community-Based Monitoring Detects Sources and Risks of Mining-Related Water Pollution in Zimbabwe

Ruppen

Chituri

Meck

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…One promising approach would use a version of the “acid‐soluble” Al extraction, a method that calls for acidification of unfiltered water samples in a pH‐4.0 buffer for 3 h, followed by filtration at 0.45 μm. This method has been shown to differentiate between freshly precipitated Al and Al bound to suspended sediment particles in natural waters (Rodriguez et al ). It would be helpful to determine whether Al concentrations in the “acid‐soluble” Al fraction can explain differences in toxicity better than total‐Al analyses.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One promising approach would use a version of the "acid-soluble" Al extraction, a method that calls for acidification of unfiltered water samples in a pH-4.0 buffer for 3 h, followed by filtration at 0.45 μm. This method has been shown to differentiate between freshly precipitated Al and Al bound to suspended sediment particles in natural waters (Rodriguez et al 2019) helpful to determine whether Al concentrations in the "acidsoluble" Al fraction can explain differences in toxicity better than total-Al analyses. A better analytical approach to measure bioavailable Al or determine Al speciation (e.g., X-ray diffraction, light scattering photometry) during toxicity testing could further improve the reliability of predictions of Al toxicity.…”

Section: Implications For Revised Al Water Quality Criteriamentioning

confidence: 99%

Toxicity of Aluminum to Ceriodaphnia dubia in Low‐Hardness Waters as Affected by Natural Dissolved Organic Matter

Besser

Cleveland

Ivey

et al. 2019

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We conducted a series of 7‐d toxicity tests with Ceriodaphnia dubia in dilutions of low‐hardness natural waters, which contained dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations up to 10 mg/L. Stream waters were mixed with well water to achieve 2 target hardness levels (20 and 35 mg/L) and 4 DOC concentrations. Tests with aluminum (Al)‐spiked waters were conducted in a controlled CO2 atmosphere to maintain the pH at a range of 6.0 to 6.5. The results were used to estimate effect concentrations for survival and reproduction, expressed as total (unfiltered) Al concentrations. There were small differences in total‐Al thresholds between waters with 20 and 35 mg/L hardness, but effect concentrations for C. dubia survival (median lethal concentrations) and reproduction (effect concentrations, 20%) increased log‐linearly with increasing DOC concentrations in the range, 0.3 to 6 mg/L. Slopes of these regressions were similar to slopes from data used to revise the US Environmental Protection Agency water quality criterion for Al, but toxic effects in the present study occurred at total‐Al concentrations 8‐ to 10‐fold greater than toxicity values used for criteria development. This difference probably reflects the long equilibration (aging) times of Al test waters used in the present study (up to 192 h) compared with short (3‐h) equilibration times in other studies used for criteria development. These results confirm the importance of DOC as a control on Al toxicity in low‐hardness waters, but they also demonstrate that total‐Al concentrations are not predictive of Al toxicity, except under defined water quality (pH, hardness, DOC) and exposure conditions (e.g., aging of test waters). Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:2121–2127. Published 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of SETAC. This article is a US government work, and as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America.

show abstract

“…A recently proposed pH 4 extraction method for determining bioavailable Al and Fe concentrations in environmental samples may solve the problem that filtration alone does not appear capable of addressing (Rodriguez et al ). The idea behind this approach is to decrease pH in a water sample to pH 4 prior to passing the sample through a 0.45‐µm filter.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Total Recoverable Aluminum: Not Totally Relevant for Water Quality Standards

Ryan

Santore

Tobiason

et al. 2019

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A large water quality data set, representing more than 100 surface‐water locations sampled from 2007 to 2017 in the Los Alamos area of New Mexico, USA's Pajarito Plateau, was assembled to evaluate Al concentrations in unfiltered and filtered samples. Aluminum concentrations often exceeded United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and New Mexico ambient water quality criteria (AWQC), regardless of filter size and sample location. However, AWQC are based on laboratory toxicity studies using soluble Al salts and do not reflect natural conditions in Pajarito Plateau surface waters. The plateau is predominately covered by glassy and recrystallized volcanic ashes (e.g., Bandelier Tuff) containing colloidal to sand‐sized aluminosilicates. Samples from natural background drainages and areas downstream of developed regions exhibited similar Al concentrations, suggesting that AWQC exceedances are caused by naturally elevated Al concentrations. Solubility calculations indicated that most samples were oversaturated with respect to amorphous Al(OH)3(s). Therefore, AWQC exceedances are likely artifacts of the “total recoverable” sample preparation, which includes acidification and partial digestion, thereby liberating nonbioavailable Al from aluminosilicates. Accordingly, Al concentrations were strongly associated with suspended sediment concentrations (SSCs), implying that aluminosilicates in suspended sediment contributed to AWQC exceedances and Al oversaturation. Solid‐phase particle characterization, using X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy with electron dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) did not identify potentially bioavailable amorphous Al(OH)3(s) in any sample tested. Thus, current sample collection and analysis protocols should not be used to evaluate attainment of Al AWQC on the Pajarito Plateau or locations where aluminosilicates are substantial contributors to total recoverable Al. A sample preparation method (e.g., pH 4 extraction) capable of differentiating nonbioavailable and bioavailable forms of Al is recommended. Otherwise, current New Mexico and USEPA sample preparation approaches will continue to generate artifactual AWQC exceedances in surface waters that contain aluminosilicates. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2019;00:1–14. © 2019 SETAC

show abstract

Determination of Bioavailable Aluminum in Natural Waters in the Presence of Suspended Solids

Cited by 8 publications

References 18 publications

Community-Based Monitoring Detects Sources and Risks of Mining-Related Water Pollution in Zimbabwe

Community-Based Monitoring Detects Sources and Risks of Mining-Related Water Pollution in Zimbabwe

Toxicity of Aluminum to Ceriodaphnia dubia in Low‐Hardness Waters as Affected by Natural Dissolved Organic Matter

Total Recoverable Aluminum: Not Totally Relevant for Water Quality Standards

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About