Monitoring the recipient of Alcoa Lista. Pollutants in the water column and in organisms

Summary

A one-year monitoring program was carried out in the marine recipient to Alcoa Lista (aluminium smelter) in 2015. The monitoring program included analysis of pollutants (EU’s priority substances and other relevant pollutants) in organisms and in the water column. Blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) were placed in moored cages at 6 different locations with increasing distance to the discharge point. After 2.5 months the mussels were collected and prepared for analysis. Three of the cages were empty and at these sites periwinkles (Littorina littorea) were collected and used for analysis. The organisms were analysed for PAHs, arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), zinc (Zn), fluoride (F) (specific relevant pollutants) and cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg) and BaP (EU’s priority substances).