Heavy metals in potable groundwater of mining-affected river catchments, northwestern Romania

Abstract

Groundwater, accessed using wells and municipal springs, represents the major source of potable water for the human population outside of major urban areas in northwestern Romania, a region with a long history of metal mining and metallurgy. The magnitude and spatial distribution of metal contamination in private-supply groundwater was investigated in four mining-affected river catchments in Maramureş and Satu Mare Counties through the collection of 144 groundwater samples. Bedrock geology, pH and Eh were found to be important controls on the solubility of metals in groundwater. Peak metal concentrations were found to occur in the Lapuş catchment, where metal levels exceed Dutch target and intervention values in up to 49% and 14% of samples, respectively. A 700 m wide corridor in the Lapuş catchment on either side of the main river channel was identified in which peak Cd (31 μg l(-1)), Cu (50 μg l(-1)), Pb (50 μg l(-1)) and Zn (3,000 μg l(-1)) concentrations were found to occur. Given the generally similar bedrock geologies, lower metal levels in other catchments are believed to reflect differences in the magnitude of metal loading to the local environment from both metal mining and other industrial and municipal sources. Sampling of groundwater in northwestern Romania has indicated areas of potential concern for human health, where heavy metal concentrations exceed accepted environmental quality guidelines. The presence of elevated metal levels in groundwater also has implications for the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) and achieving 'good' status for groundwater in this part of the Danube River Basin District (RBD).

Synoptic monitoring as an approach to discriminating between point and diffuse source contributions to zinc loads in mining impacted catchments

“…The maximum point source contribution of Zn to the Rookhope Burn (2.42 mg/l) is comparable with peak concentrations determined in other mining-affected watercourses, e.g. Lapus River catchment northwestern Romania, 14 South Korea, 15 but do not reach the concentrations reported in run-off waters monitored in Cabezo Rajao, in Southeast Spain. 16 However, it should be noted that concern with respect to the impacts of Zn being over estimated has encouraged further research with respect to the EQS in the context of zinc's ''specific pollutant'' status, 17,18 which allows due consideration of natural background and bioavailability concentrations in the determination of the EQS.…”

A Comprehensive Review on Reasons for Tailings Dam Failures Based on Case History

“…Nevertheless, on a global scale, incidents of tailings dam failures have occurred often. In addition, relevant departments have an insufficient understanding of the mechanisms associated with tailings dam failure which results in serious environmental pollution and casualties [16][17][18]. In the reported 18,000 mines around the world, the failure rate in the past 100 years is estimated at 1.2%.…”

Human exposure risk to heavy metals through groundwater used for drinking in an intensively irrigated river delta

“…Arsenic is one such widely known lethal metal that occurs naturally in soil and causes severe health issues around the world especially affecting millions of lives in Asia (Fendorf et al 2010;McCarty et al 2011). Mining of metals from the ores and subsequent milling processes to remove the unwanted materials may also lead to the presence of such metals in soil and water around these areas (Stamatis et al 2001;Bird et al 2009). Distribution of heavy metals in water and soil nearby gold (Al-Hobaib et al 2013), iron ore (Jahanshahi and Zare 2015), uranium (Giri et al 2010;Elango 2013, 2014), chromite (Krishna et al 2013), antimony (Fu and Wei 2013) and polymetallic (Xu et al 2015) mines have also been examined.…”