Ecological risk assessment of urban and industrial systems: A review

Abstract

Numerous ecological risk assessment methodologies have been developed over the last twenty years around the world for evaluating urban and industrial systems and installations, by both the organisations responsible for implementing regulations and the scientific community. Although these methodologies share the general principle underlying their use, they differ widely with respect to the approaches chosen and the resources employed to apply them. Also, they may even have different objectives: prior assessment as part of an impact study before building a new installation, or retrospective assessment, for example, in view to explaining the reasons for an impact recorded or for forecasting additional expected impacts. This article provides a synthesis of the different approaches used around the world for carrying out each of the major steps common to all ecological risk assessment methodologies. The advantages and limitations of these different options are discussed in order to provide elements for formulating any new methodology adapted to a given scenario. To conclude, perspectives for improving the tools required for these methodologies are proposed, and the research works to which priority should be given are identified.

Use of digestate from a decentralized on-farm biogas plant as fertilizer in soils: An ecotoxicological study for future indicators in risk and life cycle assessment

“…The current risk assessment methodology makes use of the so-called matrix-based approach, which considers the source of the potential pollutants in the media under consideration as a whole and so doing it takes into account the potential interaction of the toxicants (Perrodin et al, 2011;Sarigiannis and Hansen, 2012).…”

Evaluation des Risques Ecotoxicologiques liés à l’épandage de boues de STEP chaulées sur une parcelle agricole

“…C'est la phase initiale, qui permet, après diverses recherches et investigations (données disponibles, données à collecter, choix de traceurs de risques, analyses à réaliser, références pour l'interprétation des résultats…), de fixer une feuille de route des actions à mener pour réaliser les 4 étapes de l 'ERE (US EPA, 1998 ;Perrodin et al, 2011).…”

“…Outre la caractérisation des sources de polluants, elle doit établir les modalités de transfert de ces derniers vers les cibles à protéger. Cette analyse peut être réalisée à l'aide de modèles de transferts théoriques plus ou moins complexes, et/ ou sur la base de résultats expérimentaux (Perrodin et al, 2011). Dans le cas de l'approche « substances » mise en oeuvre ici, elle aboutit pour chaque substance, à l'établissement de la Predicted Environmental Concentration (PEC).…”

“…Cette phase a pour but de déterminer dans quelle mesure les organismes de l'écosystème cible peuvent être impactés par les polluants auxquels ils seront exposés (Perrodin et al, 2011). Elle est principalement basée sur des approches biologiques, avec notamment la mise en oeuvre de batteries de bioessais, au sujet duquel il existe une abondante littérature.…”

Environmental assessment of a territory: An overview of existing tools and methods

“…Most risk assessment methods established at the international level consist of four main phases (Perrodin et al, 2011): (i) hazard identification (substances which can cause adverse effects depending on different levels of exposure), (ii) evaluation of doseeresponse relationship (relationship between exposure to a hazardous substance and the incidence on health and the environment), (iii) estimation of the exposure (the environmental fate of substances and exposure pathways for populations or ecosystems) and (iv) risk characterization (likelihood of hazard occurrence for an individual in a given population or an organism in a given ecosystem).…”