SEASONAL CHANGES IN CHROMIUM CONTENT IN THE WATER OF THE BYSTRZYCA RIVER (DOLNOSLASKIE PROVINCE)

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1 DOI: /ecea (4)45 ECOL CHEM ENG A. 212;19(4-5): Magdalena SENZE 1 and Monika KOWALSKA-GÓRALSKA 1 SEASONAL CHANGES IN CHROMIUM CONTENT IN THE WATER OF THE BYSTRZYCA RIVER (DOLNOSLASKIE PROVINCE) SEZONOWE ZMIANY ZAWARTOŒCI CHROMU W WODZIE RZEKI BYSTRZYCY (WOJEWÓDZTWO DOLNOŒL SKIE) Abstract: The study was conduct on the Bystrzyca river and its tributaries. The samples water were tested for chromium(vi). Chromium content in the waters covered by the study corresponded to that characteristic of surface waters in the areas of Poland with medium chromium pollution levels. Locally recorded higher concentrations were probably a result of discharges of municipal sewage or sewage from small industrial plants. Keywords: chromium, water rivers Introduction Water reservoirs in Poland are exposed to the effects of pollution, which comes in the form of waste and sewage from land and waters located in river catchment basins. One of the reasons for discharging chemical compounds and toxic substances into waters are poorly developed, inadequate or obsolete sewerage systems in many towns and cities. Another factor is the recreational use of lakes, ponds, rivers and neighbouring areas. Unfortunately, as yet Poland has not fully managed to link recreation with the presence of sanitary facilities. The type of agricultural animal and plant production that is predominant in Poland has an adverse effect on water reservoirs and their catchment basins. The main cause of this phenomenon is inappropriate and often ill-considered use of natural and artificial fertilizers. A big problem is the use of crop protection chemicals for agricultural production. The compounds used for the purpose contain considerable amounts of heavy metals, which are very harmful to the entire ecosystem. Their accumulation in the food chain starts in water. Many groups of chemical compounds are to be found in the natural environment. They are present in atmospheric air, soil and water. An important place among them is 1 Department of Hydrobiology and Aquaculture, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Che³moñskiego 38c, Wroc³aw, Poland, phone: , fax: , magdalena.senze@up.wroc.pl

2 434 Magdalena Senze and Monika Kowalska-Góralska occupied by heavy metals, including chromium. Chromium is a rare metal. Its content in Earth s crust amounts to.37 %. Chromium has numerous applications in industry, eg it is used for plating metal objects, making iron alloys, producing pigments, manufacturing fungicidal compounds, in the dyeing industry, in construction as a mortar component, for making gels and glues, in the tanning and textile industries. It also enters the environment when coal is burnt [1]. The harmful effects of chromium depend on its valency, solubility and the way in which it is delivered. Chromium(VI) is more toxic than chromium(iii). Chromium(VI) compounds are strong oxidizers, and so they irritate the respiratory track, damage the senses of taste, smell and hearing, harm the heart and the nervous system, and in the case of direct contact they cause ulcerations and poisonings. Potable water should not contain more than.5 mgcr dm [2]. Chromium is harmful to fish in surface water when its content amounts to 15 8 mgcr dm, and to other aquatic organisms from.8 to 1 mgcr dm [3]. Because chromium is present in surface waters and is toxic, and because water is drawn from the dam reservoir at Lubachow for drinking by people, it was decided to determine chromium content in the water of the Bystrzyca River and its tributaries, which are the main sources of water flowing into. Materials and methods The Bystrzyca River is a left-bank tributary of the Odra. It is 95.2 km long. Its direct catchment basin is made up by mountains, rocky terrain, afforested areas, and recreational areas. The river starts in the Kamienne Mountains near the town of Gluszyca, or more exactly near the town of Wrzesnik, where a trachyte quarry is located. In the nearby village of Bartnica there is Rock Materials Plant Bartnica, which is a source of large amounts of dust, which is later to be found around the Zloty Potok River, the first of the Bystrzyca tributaries. Other tributaries, ie the Otluczyna, Zlota Woda, Potok Marcowy Duzy, Rybna, Jaworzynik and Walimianka, mainly collect urban and industrial waste. The Rybna River joins the Bystrzyca at the town of Gluszyca, and the Jaworzynik and Walimianka Rivers at the village of Jugowice. Two dam reservoirs have been built on the Bystrzyca River: the first one 47. km from its source, at the village of Mietkow, the other one at 75. km at the town of Lubachow. The study was conducted on the Bystrzyca River, which feeds, and its upstream tributaries. The following sampling sites were selected: on the Bystrzyca River just below its source, on the Zloty Potok, Otluczyna, Potok Marcowy Duzy, Zlota Woda, Rybna, Jaworzynik, Walimianka, the Bystrzyca before the Lubachow reservoir, the Bystrzyca 1 m below the dam. The study material was collected in 27 in periods in which the water quality is known to change: in spring, summer, autumn and winter, by means of a2dm 3 water sampler. The samples were tested for chromium content. Mineralization was done with concentrated nitric acid. Chromium content was determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) by means of a Spectr AA-11/22 unit.

3 Seasonal Changes in Chromium Content in the Water of the Bystrzyca River Results Bystrzyca river tributaries In spring chromium content ranged between.1 mgcr dm in the Zloty Potok and Jaworzynik to.3 mgcr dm in the Zlota Woda (Fig. 1). The average chromium content in spring was.2 mgcr dm. The average chromium content in the Bystrzyca tributaries in summer amounted to.9 mgcr dm. The maximum value was recorded for the Potok Marcowy Duzy (.23 mgcr dm ) (Fig. 2). No Zloty Potok Otluczyna Potok Marcowy Duzy Zlota Woda Rybna Jaworznik Walimianka Fig. 1. Chromium [mgcr dm ] in water of the Bystrzyca river tributaries spring Zloty Potok Otluczyna Potok Marcowy Duzy Zlota Woda Rybna Jaworznik Walimianka Fig. 2. Chromium [mgcr dm ] in water of the Bystrzyca river tributaries summer 27

4 436 Magdalena Senze and Monika Kowalska-Góralska chromium was found in the Otluczyna River water. No chromium was also found in the autumn in the water samples taken from the rivers Otluczyna, Potok Marcowy Duzy, Rybna and Jaworzynik. The highest concentration, at.1 mgcr dm, was measured for the Walimianka River (Fig. 3). The average chromium content in the Bystrzyca tributaries amounted to.3 mgcr dm. The maximum winter content, at.8 mgcr dm was determined for the water samples from the Jaworzynik River (Fig. 4). Just like in autumn, no chromium was found in four tributaries (Zloty Potok, Otluczyna, Potok Marcowy Duzy, Walimianka). The average chromium content was.2 mgcr dm Zloty Potok Otluczyna Potok Marcowy Duzy Zlota Woda Rybna Jaworznik Walimianka Fig. 3. Chromium [mgcr dm ] in water of the Bystrzyca river tributaries autumn Zloty Potok Otluczyna Potok Marcowy Duzy Zlota Woda Rybna Jaworznik Walimianka Fig. 4. Chromium [mgcr dm ] in water of the Bystrzyca river tributaries winter 27

5 Seasonal Changes in Chromium Content in the Water of the Bystrzyca River Bystrzyca river Chromium concentrations in the Bystrzyca River water at the site below the source above the village of Bartnica were high in summer and in autumn. They reached their maximum value in autumn.19 mgcr dm (Fig. 7). In winter and in summer they were much lower, at. mgcr dm and.1 mgcr dm, respectively (Fig. 5, 6). In the samples from the Bystrzyca taken at its inflow into the Lubachow reservoir the highest metal content was recorded in winter (.29 mgcr dm ) (Fig. 8). In autumn and summer the figures were significantly lower, at.1 mgcr dm in autumn and.9 mgcr dm in summer (Fig. 6, 7). The water flowing from the Lubachow reservoir in summer had the highest chromium content (.31 mgcr dm ) (Fig. 6). The autumn samples had over four times less chromium (Fig. 7). In winter and autumn more chromium was retained in the dam reservoir reservoir (Fig. 7, 8). There were no significant changes in spring. In summer much more chromium flowed out of than into it the source Bystrzyca above Fig. 5. Chromium [mgcr dm ] in water of the Bystrzyca river spring the source Bystrzyca above Fig. 6. Chromium [mgcr dm ] in water of the Bystrzyca river summer 27

6 438 Magdalena Senze and Monika Kowalska-Góralska the source Bystrzyca above Fig. 7. Chromium [mgcr dm ] in water of the Bystrzyca river autumn the source Bystrzyca above Fig. 8. Chromium [mgcr dm ] in water of the Bystrzyca river winter 27 Discussion The Bystrzyca River and its tributaries between their sources and the Lubachow reservoir are mountainous or foothill in nature. The water flow is thus rather fast and any pollutants discharged in the catchment basin are quickly carried by the river and reach. Most pollution in the catchment comes from urban sewage. Industrial pollution occurs rarely. It is rather insignificant and principally originates from small plants located at the town of Gluszyca or the village of Jugowice, which are household processing plants or repair shops. Most probably chromium in the waters of the Bystrzyca catchment comes from compounds formed as a result of burning coal in household stoves. The pollutants then fall as dry or wet deposition within the catchment basin. The amounts of chromium in the water samples from the Bystrzyca and its tributaries were within the average amounts determined for waters in Poland (.3;.6) mg

7 Seasonal Changes in Chromium Content in the Water of the Bystrzyca River Cr dm and in most cases did not exceed.5 mgcr dm [4]. The maximum figure measured for the Bystrzyca (.52 mgcr dm ) was at a similar level. According to a report on the environment in Dolnoœl¹skie province in 27, the Bystrzyca River belongs to waters with light and medium pollution levels (class II and water cleanliness categories A1 and A2) [5]. Water quality is adversely affected by bacteriological pollution, which was not, however, covered by the study in question. Based on the chromium content only, the waters investigated may be classified as class A1 and surface water cleanliness class I [6, 7]. Analyses of chromium contents in flowing waters in Europe and in other parts of the world have shown amounts of the metal similar to those in the Bystrzyca. The amounts for such waters ranged from.1 mgcr dm to.41 mgcr dm [8 11]. Slightly higher contents were found in the Nysa Szalona and its tributaries joining the river above the dam reservoir Slup. The chromium content in the catchment basin of the river, which flows through Dolnoslaskie province, just like the Bystrzyca, oscillated between.16 mgcr dm and.96 mgcr dm [12]. Chromium levels much higher than those in the Bystrzyca have been found in surface waters flowing from urban waste landfills in Wroclaw, where they fell within the range of (1.25; 9.) mgcr dm [13]. High amounts of chromium have also been found in the water in the settling tanks at the dust disposal site of Elektrocieplownia Wroclaw (Cogeneration Plant Wroclaw) in Kamien near Wroclaw (.5 mgcr dm ) and in the ditch behind the tanks, which carries water to the Topor River (.3 mgcr dm ) [14]. High amounts of cadmium were also found in rivers in Germany and Turkey (.3;.668) mgcr dm [9, 15]. Conclusions The waters of the Bystrzyca and its tributaries flowing into the Lubachow reservoir are characterized by medium pollution with chromium. Locally measured higher concentrations were probably a result of discharges of urban sewage or sewage from small industrial plants. The 199s saw the closure of textile and clothing plants in the Bystrzyca catchment basin at the village of Walim and the town of Gluszyca. The sewage discharged into surface waters contained significant amounts of cadmium compounds. Apart from some negative aspects of the phenomenon (unemployment and impoverishment), there is also a positive side to it an improvement in the condition of the natural environment. The Bystrzyca water is now definitely cleaner (even by up to two cleanliness classes). References [1] Œwiderska-Bró M. Mikrozanieczyszczenia w œrodowisku wodnym. Wroc³aw: Wyd Polit Wroc.; [2] Hammer H. Instrukcja szczegó³owa eksploatacji zbiornika wodnego na rzece Bystrzyca w Lubachowie. Wa³brzych: Zak³ad Energetyczny; 21. [3] Szulkowska-Wojaczek E, Marek J. Okreœlenie sposobów i kierunków dzia³ania dla ograniczenia nadmiernych iloœci zwi¹zków chemicznych przedostaj¹cych siê do wód rzek: Nysy Szalonej i Kaczawy,

8 44 Magdalena Senze and Monika Kowalska-Góralska wykorzystywanych dla zaopatrzenia LGOM w wodê pitn¹. Wroc³aw: Okrêgowy Oœrodek Rzeczoznawstwa i Doradztwa Rolniczego; [4] Pasternak K, Gliñski J. Wystêpowanie i kumulacja mikrosk³adników w osadach dennych zbiorników zaporowych po³udniowej Polski. Acta hydrobiol. 1972;14(3): [5] Kwapuliñski J, Wiechu³a D, Anders B. The occurence of selected heavy metals in bottom sediments in the Gocza³kowice reservoir (southern Poland). Acta hydrobiol. 1991;33(3/4): [6] Kwapuliñski J, Bazgier-Antoniak M, Wiechu³a D, Górka P, Wydra M, Loska K. Assessment of degradation with nickel of the Gocza³kowice dam reservoir (southern Poland). Acta hydrobiol. 1993;35(2): [7] Reczyñska-Dutka M. Ecology of some waters in the forest-agricultural basin of the river Brynica near the Upper Silesian industrial region. 4. Atmospheric heavy metals pollution of the bottom sediments of at Koz³owa Góra. Acta hydrobiol. 1985;27(4): [8] Loska K, Wiechu³a D, Cebula J. Changes in the forms of metal occurrence in bottom sediment under conditions of artifacial hypolimnetic aeration of Rybnik reservoir, southern Poland. Polish J Environ Stud. 2;9(6): [9] Loska K, Cebula J, Wiechu³a D. Analiza w³aœciwoœci fizykochemicznych osadów dennych z cofki zbiornika rybnickiego w aspekcie ich wykorzystania do celów nieprzemys³owych. Gosp Wod. 22;7: [1] Tatur A. Mo liwoœci wykorzystania analiz chemicznych osadów dennych jezior w badaniach monitoringowych. Monitoring ekosystemów jeziornych. 1986: [11] Smoleñski A. Metale ciê kie w komponentach œrodowiska wodnego w zlewni jeziora êkuk. Ochr Œrodow Zasob Natur. 1999;17: [12] Prosowicz D, Helios-Rybicka E. Trace metals in recent bottom sediments of lake Wigry (Bryzgiel basin). Limn Rev. 22;2: [13] Szarek-Gwiazda E. The effect of abiotic factors on the content and mobility of heavy metals in the sediment of a eutrophic dam reservoir (Dobczyce reservoir, southern Poland). Acta hydrobiol. 1998;4(2): [14] Zerbe J, Sobczyñski T, Elbanowska H, Siepak J. Speciation of heavy metals in bottom sediments of lakes. Polish J Environ Stud. 1999;8(5): [15] Duman F, Sezen G, Tug GN. Int J Natur Eng Sci. 27;1(3): SEZONOWE ZMIANY ZAWARTOŒCI CHROMU W WODZIE RZEKI BYSTRZYCY (WOJEWÓDZTWO DOLNOŒL SKIE) Zak³ad Hydrobiologii i Akwakultury Uniwersytet Przyrodniczy we Wroc³awiu Abstrakt: Badania prowadzono na rzece Bystrzycy i jej dop³ywach. W pobranych próbkach wody oznaczono zawartoœæ chromu(vi). Zawartoœæ chromu w badanych wodach utrzymuje siê na poziomie charakterystycznym dla wód powierzchniowych obszaru Polski o œrednim stopniu zanieczyszczenia chromem. Lokalnie notowane podwy szenia stê eñ s¹ najprawdopodobniej wynikiem miejscowych zrzutów œcieków komunalnych i pochodz¹cych z niewielkich zak³adów przemys³owych. S³owa kluczowe: chrom, woda rzeczna