Legacy of Coal Combustion: Widespread Contamination of Lake Sediments and Implications for Chronic Risks to Aquatic Ecosystems
Legacy of Coal Combustion: Widespread Contamination of Lake Sediments and Implications for Chronic Risks to Aquatic Ecosystems
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煤炭燃烧的遗产：湖泊沉积物的广泛污染及其对水生生态系统慢性风险的影响
DOI：
10.1021/acs.est.2c04717
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发表时间：
2022
影响因子：
11.4
通讯作者：
Vengosh, Avner
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Wang, Zhen;Cowan, Ellen A.;Seramur, Keith C.;Dwyer, Gary S.;Wilson, Jessie C.;Karcher, Randall;Brachfeld, Stefanie;Vengosh, Avner
煤灰中高浓度的有毒元素一旦释放到环境中，就会对人类和生态健康构成威胁。尽管公众广泛关注灾难性煤灰泄漏和煤灰池长期泄漏对水质和人类健康的风险，但煤灰处置仅得到部分监管，其对水生沉积物质量和生态健康的影响被忽视。在这里，我们提出了一个多代理方法的形态，磁性，地球化学和Sr同位素分析，揭示了未经监测的煤灰释放在过去的40至70年保存在沉积物记录的五个淡水湖毗邻燃煤电厂横跨北卡罗来纳州。我们检测到数十万吨煤灰固体的出现造成了严重的沉积物污染和潜在的慢性生态风险，这些煤灰固体主要来自高强度的雨水径流/洪水和煤灰处置场的直接污水排放。美国各地数百个垃圾处理场靠近天然水道，这意味着这种污染可能在全国范围内普遍存在，并预计会随着气候变化而恶化。
Elevated concentrations of toxic elements in coal ash pose human and ecological health risks upon release to the environment. Despite wide public concerns about water quality and human health risks from catastrophic coal ash spills and chronic leaking of coal ash ponds, coal ash disposal has only been partially regulated, and its impacts on aquatic sediment quality and ecological health have been overlooked. Here, we present a multiproxy approach of morphologic, magnetic, geochemical, and Sr isotopic analyses, revealing unmonitored coal ash releases over the past 40 to 70 years preserved in the sediment records of five freshwater lakes adjacent to coal-fired power plants across North Carolina. We detected significant sediment contamination and potential chronic ecological risks posed by the occurrence of hundreds of thousands of tons of coal ash solids mainly resulting from high-magnitude stormwater runoff/flooding and direct effluent discharge from coal ash disposal sites. The proximity of hundreds of disposal sites to natural waterways across the U.S. implies that such contamination is likely prevalent nationwide and expected to worsen with climate change.