Sediment toxicity testing of Lake Orta after liming
- CNR, Verbania-Pallanza (Italy). Ist. Italiano Idrobiologia
- Ecotox LSD, Prenana Milanese (Italy)
- National Institutes of Oceanography and Fisheries, Cairo (Egypt)
- Wright State Univ., Dayton, OH (United States)
Lake Orta has been severely polluted by industrial effluents containing Cu, NH{sub 3}, Cr., Ni, and Zn. Ammonia oxidation caused a pH drop below 4. More than 60 papers have described the adverse chemical and biological changes which occurred in Lake Orta in the past several decades. In 1989, CaCO{sub 3} (10,900 tons) was added to the lake as a remedial action. The treatment was effective, improving water quality and allowing some original plankton, benthic, and fish populations to return. However, Cu and Cr are still present in the top 10 cm of sediment. The toxicity of the sediment was evaluated using multiple assays: Microtox (solid phase and pore water), Brachionus calyciflorus and Thamnocephalus platyurus Toxkits (pore water), seed germination and root elongation (solid phase and pore water). In addition, in situ and laboratory tests were conducted with Hyalella azteca and an indigenous species of Daphnia. Assays responses varied yet showed surficial sediments to be toxic. Toxicity increased with sediment in pre-liming deposition zones. Recovery of the ecosystem is evident, however the contaminated sediments may impede further improvement.
- OSTI ID:
- 392363
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137-; ISBN 1-880611-03-1; TRN: IM9647%%217
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) world conference, Vancouver (Canada), 5-9 Nov 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Second SETAC world congress (16. annual meeting): Abstract book. Global environmental protection: Science, politics, and common sense; PB: 378 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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