Acid mine-water and agricultural pollution in a river skirting the Doñana National Park (Guadiamar river, South West Spain)

Cabrera, Francisco; Toca, C.G.; Díaz, Eduardo; Arambarri, Pablo de

doi:10.1016/0043-1354(84)90120-9

Cited by 53 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…In this area, the main problem presented by the river is from the dumping of urban and small agroalimentary plant wastewaters (Cabrera et al, 1984;Prat et al, 1999;Toja et al, 2003).…”

Section: Present-day State Of Surface Watersmentioning

confidence: 96%

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State of Contamination of the Waters in the Guadiamar Valley Five Years after the AznalcÓllar Spill

Álvarez

Cerón

Fernández

et al. 2005

Water Air Soil Pollut

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In April 1998, the Aznalcóllar mine tailings dam spilled 2 hm 3 of slurry and 4 hm 3 of acid waters into the Agrio River (affluent of the Guadiamar River). The pollutants reached the proximity of the Doñana National Park, 60 km downstream. The state of contamination of groundwaters and surface waters, from several samplings made subsequent to the spill, is described. Although the Guadiamar valley groundwaters remain contaminated, this situation cannot be attributed to the mining spill, but to the long history of pollution from mining activity at Aznalcóllar. Three zones can be distinguished: the most polluted zone, with pH values close to 4 and very high concentrations of metals (up to 18 mg/l of Al and 7 mg/l of Mn) and sulfates (up to 1263 mg/l); a second zone where pH values are higher (close to neutral) and, as a result, the concentration of metals is significantly lower; and a third zone, with pH exceeding 7, in which the concentration of metals has already fallen to normal levels but sulfate concentrations remain high (above 500 mg/l). The waters of the Agrio River present characteristics similar to those of the most-polluted groundwaters; on mixing with the waters of the Guadiamar River they are neutralized, precipitating firstly Al and then the rest of the metals. These metals remain deposited on the river-bed, where they are readily remobilized in later spates. Analysis of changes in groundwater quality shows a trend toward a lower content of Zn and the other metals in most wells.

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“…In this area, the main problem presented by the river is from the dumping of urban and small agroalimentary plant wastewaters (Cabrera et al, 1984;Prat et al, 1999;Toja et al, 2003).…”

Section: Present-day State Of Surface Watersmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Earlier studies show that there was already heavy pollution of the Agrio River before the 1998 spill (Cabrera et al, 1984(Cabrera et al, , 1987Arambarri et al, 1996).…”

Section: Background and Aimsmentioning

confidence: 98%

State of Contamination of the Waters in the Guadiamar Valley Five Years after the AznalcÓllar Spill

Álvarez

Cerón

Fernández

et al. 2005

Water Air Soil Pollut

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“…Introduction pollution in the surrounding environment. There is voluminous literature on the topic of pollution A large quantity of acid mine drainage is proby acid mine drainage (Boult et al, 1994; Cabrera duced due to the weathering of waste mines of et al, 1984;Chapman et al, 1983;Foster et al, metal sulfides, and is one of the major causes of 1978). China is rich in non-ferrous metal sulfide resources.…”

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confidence: 99%

Spatial and temporal patterns of acidity and heavy metals in predicting the potential for ecological impact on the Le An river polluted by acid mine drainage

Wang

Tang

1997

Science of The Total Environment

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Integration and comparison of metal contamination from acid mine drainage and an assessment of the potential for ecological impact was conducted in the aquatic ecosystems of the Le An river. The results indicated low acidity, high levels of suspended solids containing a high content of copper in river water and sediment in the upstream region of the Le An river due to the pollution from the Dexing copper mine, and high concentrations of zinc and copper in surface water and sediments, high release potential and ready bioavailability of heavy metals in sediments downstream (after site AO7) due to the pollution from the Jishui river. The pollution from acid mine drainage in the Le An river potentially effects an ecological impact on the aquatic ecosystem, mainly between sites A04 and AO8. The management strategy should, therefore be mainly applied to acid mine drainage from the Dexing copper mine and heavy metal discharges from the Jishui river. 0 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.

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“…If contamination levels were due to the spill, its spatial distribution should correspond with the area covered by acid water and toxic sludge. Also, the existence of wells flooded by the spill where after repeated pumping and addition of neutralizing materials remain acidic indicates that an important volume of aquifer surrounding the wells was Although there are no data on the groundwater quality before 1998, the high levels of toxic elements found in the waters of the Agrio and Guadiamar rivers prior to the failure of the dam (Cabrera et al 1984;Cabrera et al 1987;Arambarri et al 1996), even higher than those found after the spill (Olías et al 2006), clearly show the existence of this previous contamination. This is also noted in other studies conducted on the soils (Kraus and Wiegand 2006;Simón et al 2009) and the river sediments (Martin et al 2000;Hudson-Edwards et al 2003;Turner et al 2008).…”

Section: Temporal Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Groundwater contamination evolution in the Guadiamar and Agrio aquifers after the Aznalcóllar spill: assessment and environmental implications

Álvarez

Moral

Galván

et al. 2011

Environ Monit Assess

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In 1998, the Agrio and Guadiamar rivers underwent an enormous environmental disaster caused by the rupture of the Aznalcóllar tailings dam and the release of 6 hm(3) of pyrite sludge and acidic water. Both rivers run over recent alluvial materials which form a small-sized aquifer which is however important because underground water feeds the flow of the rivers. This work analyzes the state of groundwater 10 years after the spill. Before the dam failure, this aquifer was already contaminated in the zone nearest to the mine, to which the impact of the spill was added. Contamination levels in the alluvial aquifer of the Agrio River have decreased remarkably. However, they are still important, with acidic pH values and high concentrations of toxic elements (maximum values of 16 mg/L of Zn and 15 mg/L of Al). There are also important levels of contamination in the Guadiamar alluvial area closest to the mine, as well as in specific zones located further south. The concentration of toxic elements is mainly controlled by pH. The evolution of contaminant levels show a sharp decrease after the first years following the spill, followed by a subsequent stabilization. It is necessary to take measures for the recovery of the aquifer because, otherwise, groundwater will continue contributing contaminants into the Agrio and Guadiamar rivers.

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Acid mine-water and agricultural pollution in a river skirting the Doñana National Park (Guadiamar river, South West Spain)

Cited by 53 publications

References 12 publications

State of Contamination of the Waters in the Guadiamar Valley Five Years after the AznalcÓllar Spill

State of Contamination of the Waters in the Guadiamar Valley Five Years after the AznalcÓllar Spill

Spatial and temporal patterns of acidity and heavy metals in predicting the potential for ecological impact on the Le An river polluted by acid mine drainage

Groundwater contamination evolution in the Guadiamar and Agrio aquifers after the Aznalcóllar spill: assessment and environmental implications

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