Multizone aquatic ecological exposures to landfill contaminants from a groundwater plume discharging to a pond

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dc.contributor.author

Hua, Tammy

Propp, Victoria R.

Power, Christopher

Brown, Susan J.

Collins, Pamela

Smith, James E.

Roy, James W.

dc.date.accepted

2023-05-14

dc.date.accessioned

2023-12-12T15:58:30Z

dc.date.available

2023-12-12T15:58:30Z

dc.date.issued

2023-05-17

dc.date.submitted

2022-12-21

dc.description.abstract - en

While it is recognized that groundwater contaminant plumes can impact surface waters, there remains little information on the magnitude, spatial extent, and especially temporal variability of the resulting exposure to the variety of aquatic organisms, particularly for stagnant surface waters (e.g., ponds). The present study of a historic landfill plume discharging to a pond investigated contaminant exposure to multiple aquatic zones (endobenthic, epibenthic, pelagic) over approximately 1 year within a temperate climate. Landfill tracers included the artificial sweetener saccharin, ammonium, chloride, and specific conductance. Sampling of pond sediment porewater (upwelling groundwater) and continuous geophysical imaging of the subsurface showed a relatively stable plume footprint covering approximately 26% of the pond, although with spatially varying leachate composition, revealing year-round exposure to endobenthic (within sediments) organisms. Substantial and variable contaminant exposure to epibenthic organisms within the plume footprint was shown by elevated specific conductance measured directly above the sediment interface. Exposure varied daily at times and increased through winter to values representing undiluted plume groundwater. Exposure to pelagic organisms (overlying water) covered a larger area (~50%) due to in-pond circulation. The stream outlet concentrations were stable at approximately 10 times dilution for chloride and saccharin, but were substantially less in summer for ammonium due to in-pond processes. Whereas groundwater contaminants are typically assumed elevated at base flows, the outlet stream contaminant mass discharges to downstream receptors were notably higher in winter than summer, following stream flow patterns. Insights from the present study into the timings and locations of contaminant plume exposure to multiple ecological zones of a pond can provide guidance to contaminated site and aquatic ecosystem managers on improved monitoring, assessment, and remediation protocols.

dc.identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.5650

dc.identifier.issn

0730-7268

1552-8618

dc.identifier.uri

https://open-science.canada.ca/handle/123456789/1345

dc.language.iso

en

dc.publisher

Wiley

dc.rights - en

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

dc.rights - fr

Creative Commons Attribution - Pas d'utilisation commerciale - Pas de modification 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

dc.rights.openaccesslevel - en

Gold

dc.rights.openaccesslevel - fr

Or

dc.rights.uri - en

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

dc.rights.uri - fr

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.fr

dc.subject - en

Land

Nature and environment

Water

dc.subject - fr

Terres

Nature et environnement

Eau

dc.subject.en - en

Land

Nature and environment

Water

dc.subject.fr - fr

Terres

Nature et environnement

Eau

dc.title - en

Multizone aquatic ecological exposures to landfill contaminants from a groundwater plume discharging to a pond

dc.type - en

Article

dc.type - fr

Article

local.article.journalissue

8

local.article.journaltitle

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

local.article.journalvolume

42

local.pagination

18 pages

local.peerreview - en

Yes

local.peerreview - fr

Oui

local.requestdoi

No

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