Presence of ePOPs in coastal wetlands. The Albufera of Valencia as study case

Trabajo presentado en la 16th International Conference of the International Water Association (IWA) Specialist Group on Wetland Systems for Water Pollution Control, celebrado en Valencia (España) del 30 de septiembre al 4 de octubre de 2018The screening of emerging persistent organic pollutants (ePOPs) in coastal wetlands as the Albufera Natural Park (Valencia, Spain) is crucial to understand their transport, accumulation and fate in susceptible area. This area is severely threatened by water pollution, disturbances of the water regime, industrial pressures and high population density. The concern about the occurrence and distribution of ePOPs is rising since they are one of the factors adversely affecting fragile aquatic ecosystems, including their biota. The results of this study show the presence of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and organophosphate flame retardants (PFRs) in different environmental matrices of the wetland area. Sixty-seven samples including surface water, sediment, fish and influents and effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) nearby were collected. WWTPs were identified as one of the main point sources of these ePOPs to the environment. High levels of target compounds (mainly PFASs) in wastewater effluents suggest the presence of precursors in water and their ineffective elimination through the treatments of WWTPs. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP) were the most abundant compounds in all water samples. PFOS was also the most detected compound in sediment and fish samples. In biota, the environmental quality standard (EQS) established by Directive 2013/39 of the European Union for PFOS concentration, was exceeded by 50% of fish samples in the Albufera lake and, specifically, in 71% of eels. In sediment, the maximum allowable concentration values of EQS were not exceeded. However, considering the annual average level of PFOS established by this Directive (0.65 ng l-1) and the mean values obtained in the Albufera (31.6 ng l-1), it would be convenient to perform periodic samplings to determine the annual average of PFOS.This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the projects ECO2TOOLS (CGL2015-64454-C2) and ECO2SUPPORT (CGL2015-64454-C2-2-R). M. Lorenzo was funded by the Foundation “Tatiana Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno” (predoctoral grant 2014).Peer reviewe