Trajectories of the Seine River Basin

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Sedimentary archives provide long-term records of particulate-bound pollutants (e.g. trace metal elements, PAHs). We present the results obtained on a set of selected cores from alluvial deposits within the Seine River basin, integrating the entire area's land uses upstream of the core location, collected upstream and downstream of Paris megacity and in the estuary. Some of these cores go back to the 1910s. These records are complemented by in-depth studies of the related pollution emissions, their regulation and other environmental regulations, thereby establishing contaminant trajectories. They are representative of a wide range of contamination intensities resulting from industrial, urban and agricultural activities and their temporal evolution over a 75,000 km 2 territory. A wide set of contaminants, including metals, radionuclides, pharmaceuticals and up to 50 persistent organic pollutants, have been analysed based on the Seine River sediment archives. Altogether, more than 70 particulate contaminants, most of them regulated or banned (OSPAR convention, European Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000/60/EC)), were measured in dated cores collected at 7 sites, resulting in a large data set. After drawing a picture of the literature devoted to sedimentary archives, the findings resulting from several decades of research devoted to the Seine River basin will be used, together with other studies on other French and foreign rivers, to illustrate the outstanding potential of sedimentary archives. The limitations of using sedimentary archives for inter-site comparison and the approaches developed in the PIREN-Seine to overcome such limitations such as selecting pertinent indicators (specific fluxes, per capita release, leakage rate, etc.) will be described. The very complex interactions between humans and their environment will be addressed through questions such as the impact on the spatial and temporal trajectories of contaminants of factors such as wastewater management, deindustrialisation within the Seine River basin, implementation of national and EU environmental regulations, etc. This chapter will show how such studies can reveal the persistence of the contamination and the emergence of new pollutants, e.g. antibiotics. It will propose indicators for the evaluation of the environment resilience and the efficiency of environmental policies.

Section: The Seine River Basin: a Sensitive Territory Under High Presmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…In addition, the coring sites are geographically located in Fig. 1 [37]. Coring sites are listed in Table 1 and greater detail can be found in the related articles.…”

Section: Spatial Position Of Sedimentary Archives Within the Seine Rimentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentary Archives Reveal the Concealed History of Micropollutant Contamination in the Seine River Basin

Ayrault¹,

Meybeck²,

Mouchel³

et al. 2020

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“…To achieve further insight into the dynamics of PFASs in this system, PFAS concentrations were monitored at the regional scale over a longer time period [38]. For sample collection, three sites previously used as pilot sites for nearly two decades were selected (Marnay, Bougival and Triel, from upstream to downstream; see [1] for site location). A wider range of chemicals was analysed: 11 PFCAs, 5 PFSAs, FOSA and its N-alkylated derivatives (MeFOSA, EtFOSA) and 1 fluorotelomer sulfonate (6:2 FTSA).…”

Section: Dynamics Of Pfass In the Seine Rivermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this context, a field study was conducted within the PIREN-Seine programme, to further investigate the occurrence and sources of pathogenic protozoa in the Seine River using active biomonitoring with D. polymorpha. This field survey was carried out on three sites along the Seine River, following an upstream-downstream gradient: Marnay-sur-Seine (rural site), Bougival and Triel-sur-Seine (urban sites) (see [1]). Zebra mussels were collected in April 2016 at the Lac du Der-Chantecoq (N 48 36 0 10.0728 00 E 4 44 0 57.408 00 ).…”

Section: Occurrence Of Pathogenic Parasites In the Seine Rivermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Seine River basin is under severe anthropogenic pressure for a number of reasons, including the emission of micropollutants by industrial, agricultural and urban activities in combination with relatively low river water flow per capita (cf. [1]). Thus, the sources and the transfer dynamics of both organic micropollutants and trace metals have been investigated over several decades within the PIREN-Seine programme.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contaminants of Emerging Concern in the Seine River Basin: Overview of Recent Research

Labadie

Alligant

Berthe

et al. 2020

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For over 30 years, the sources and the transfer dynamics of micropollutants have been investigated in the PIREN-Seine programme. Recent works included a wide range of chemicals and biological contaminants of emerging concern (i.e. contaminants whose occurrence, fate and impact are scarcely documented). This chapter presents a brief overview of research recently conducted on contaminants as diverse as macro-and microplastics, poly-and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), pathogenic protozoa, antibiotics and the associated antibiotic resistance. The multiscalar study of plastics and PFASs at a large spatial scale is rare; the results produced in recent years on the Seine River catchment have provided an original contribution to the investigation of the dynamics of these contaminants in urban environments. The results also highlighted that pathogenic protozoa are ubiquitous in the Seine River basin and that the contamination of bivalves such as Dreissena polymorpha could reflect the ambient biological contamination of watercourses. The widespread occurrence of antibiotics in the Seine River was demonstrated, and it was shown that the resistome of biofilms in highly urbanised rivers constitutes a microenvironment where genetic support for antibiotic resistance (clinical integrons) and resistance genes for trace metals are concentrated.

Ecological Functioning of the Seine River: From Long-Term Modelling Approaches to High-Frequency Data Analysis

Garnier

Marescaux

Guillon

et al. 2020

At the start of the PIREN-Seine program, organic pollution by the effluent of the Parisian conurbation was responsible for episodic anoxia in the lower Seine River, while nutrients from both point and diffuse sources are used to cause eutrophication, a nuisance for drinking water production from surface water and biodiversity. The implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive led to a drastic decrease of organic carbon, phosphorus and ammonium concentrations in surface waters starting in the early 2000s and to a reduction of the frequency and the amplitude of phytoplankton blooms. However, nitrate contamination from fertiliserintensive agriculture continued to increase or at best levelled off, threatening groundwater resources and causing unbalanced nutrient ratios at the coastal zone where eutrophication still results in harmful algal blooms. High-frequency O 2 data combined with models, which have been developed for 30 years, can help discriminate the contribution of auto-vs. heterotrophic metabolism in the CO 2 supersaturation observed in the Seine River. Despite the impressive improvement in water quality of the Seine River, episodic crises such as summer low-flow conditions still threaten the good ecological status of both river and coastal waters. Modelling scenarios, including further wastewater treatments and structural changes in agriculture and future changes in hydrology under climate changes, provide the basis for a future vision of the ecological functioning of the Seine River network.