ASSESSMENT OF THE QUALITY OF RIVER SEDIMENTS IN BASELINE NATIONAL MONITORING STATIONS OF 12 COUNTRIES IN THE DANUBE RIVER BASIN, Carpathian Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences August 2022, Vol. 17, No. 2, p. 425 – 440; DOI:10.26471/cjees/2022/017/233 - Carpathian Journal of Earth And Environmental Sciences

Anca-Marina VÎJDEA^1*, Veronica Elena ALEXE¹, Lidia-Lenuța BĂLAN¹, Oleg BOGDEVICH², Teja ČERU³, Neda DEVIĆ⁴, Meta DOBNIKAR³, Katalin Mária DUDÁS⁵, Ismir HAJDAREVIĆ⁶, Jarmila HALÍŘOVÁ⁷, Atanas HIKOV⁸, Franko HUMER⁹, Danijel IVANIŠEVIĆ¹⁰, Michal JANKULÁR¹¹, Gyozo JORDAN¹², Kristina KORET³, Marko MARJANOVIĆ¹³, Prvoslav MARJANOVIĆ¹³, Libor MIKL⁷, Igor NICOARĂ¹⁴, Toni NIKOLIĆ⁶, Irena PEYTCHEVA⁸, Sebastian PFLEIDERER¹⁵, Heinz REITNER¹⁵, Ajka ŠORŠA¹⁰, Jelena VIĆANOVIĆ¹⁶, Dragica VULIĆ¹³, & The SIMONA Project Team^a

¹Geological Institute of Romania IGR, 1 Caransebeș St., RO-012171 Bucharest, Romania,

²Institute of Chemistry, 3 Academy St., Chişinău, MD-2028, Republic of Moldova

³Geological Survey of Slovenia, Dimičeva ulica 14, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

⁴Geological Survey of Montenegro, Kruševac bb, 81000 Podgorica, Crna Gora, Montenegro

⁵Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Villányi út 29-43, 1118 Budapest, Hungary

⁶Geological Survey of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina FZZG, Ustanička 11, 71210 Ilidža, BiH;

⁷Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Generála Šišky 942, 13400 Prague 4, Czech Republic

⁸Geological Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. Georgi Boncev St., bl. 24, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria

⁹Environment Agency Austria UBA, Spittelauer Lände 5, A-1090 Vienna, Austria

¹⁰Croatian Geological Survey, Sachsova 2, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

¹¹State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr, Mlynska dolina 1, 817 04 Bratislava, Slovakia

¹²Eötvös Loránd University, Egyetem tér 1-3, H-1053, Budapest, Hungary

¹³Jaroslav Černi Water Institute, Jaroslava Cernog 80, 11226, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

¹⁴Institute of Geology and Seismology, 60/3 Gh. Asachi St., Chişinău, Republic of Moldova

¹⁵Geological Survey of Austria GBA, Neulinggasse 38, A-1030 Vienna, Austria

¹⁶ Vode Srpske, Miloša Obilića 51, 76300 Bijeljina, BiH

*Corresponding author: anca.vijdea@igr.ro

ASSESSMENT OF THE QUALITY OF RIVER SEDIMENTS IN BASELINE NATIONAL MONITORING STATIONS OF 12 COUNTRIES IN THE DANUBE RIVER BASIN, Carpathian Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences August 2022, Vol. 17, No. 2, p. 425 – 440; DOI:10.26471/cjees/2022/017/233

Full text

Fluvial sediment samples (river bottom sediment, suspended sediment and active floodplain/overbank) were collected in 2 baseline stations of the Transnational Monitoring Network for each of the 12 countries in the Danube Basin Region: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Republic of Moldavia, Montenegro, Romania, Republic of Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia, according to a harmonized methodology. The sediment samples were analyzed for selected hazardous substances (HSs): 8 metals, 8 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and 6 pesticides in an accredited laboratory selected as reference laboratory, as well as in national laboratories. Risk ratios were computed in order to compare the results to the Environmental Quality Standards listed in the European Directives, to the national threshold values in the Danube Basin, and to other available international European and American quality standards, and the risk ratios were classified as background, alert and intervention values for readily evaluation. Results show widespread metal(oid) (As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn) contamination in the Danube Basin, most often associated with historic mining. Concentration values of Ni and Cr exceeding the thresholds are caused by the geological background (ultrabasic and metamorphic rocks in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Serbia and Romania). Concentration values higher than the thresholds for some of the PAHs (e.g. Fluoranthene) and sometimes for Total PAHs were also noted almost in every countries, caused by industrial activities, wastewater discharges or navigation on the Danube River. Pesticides were below the detection limit or below the legislative intervention thresholds at all national baseline sampling sites.