Contaminants in the Great Lakes: An Introduction
The Great Lakes represents a combined watershed containing one fifth of the world’s freshwater supply and supporting one of the largest ecosystems on the planet. Contaminants, emitted to the lake through both past and present anthropogenic activity, have
- PDF / 259,347 Bytes
- 12 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 42 Downloads / 193 Views
Contents 1 The World’s Largest Freshwater Lakes Under Stress 2 Source, Transport, and Impacts of Existing and Emerging Contaminants 2.1 Persistent/Legacy Chemicals 2.2 Nutrients 2.3 Biological and Emerging Contaminants 3 Progress in Critical Science and Future of Management Considerations 4 Conclusion: Knowledge Gaps and Future Directions References
Abstract The Great Lakes represents a combined watershed containing one fifth of the world’s freshwater supply and supporting one of the largest ecosystems on the planet. Contaminants, emitted to the lake through both past and present anthropogenic activity, have stressed this important aquatic ecosystem, e.g. through toxic algal blooms, bioaccumulation of heavy metals and hydrocarbons, and invasion of non-naïve species. This introductory chapter provides the broader context for the following ten chapters, which explore this broad range of both established and emerging contaminants. We examine contaminant sources, transport pathways and fate, and address one of the most difficult challenges in the Great Lakes, of engaging effective solutions. Lastly, we discuss the knowledge gaps and future research directions required to protect this valuable freshwater resource. Keywords Algal blooms, Biomagnification, Ecosystem, Microplastics, Plasticizers, Volatilization
J. Crossman (*) and C. Weisener School of Environment, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Jill Crossman and Chris Weisener (eds.), Contaminants of the Great Lakes, Hdb Env Chem, DOI 10.1007/698_2020_592, © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
J. Crossman and C. Weisener
1 The World’s Largest Freshwater Lakes Under Stress The Laurentian Great Lakes provide one fifth of the world and over 80% of North America with their supply of surface freshwater. They support an annual fisheries economy of over $7 billion, in addition to being a critical aquatic ecosystem [1]. The Great Lakes have been subject to significant and large-scale anthropogenic stress [2], including contamination and climate and land use change. Together, these multiple stressors have been associated with ecosystem deterioration, with the shallowest of the lakes, Lake Erie, being described as “literally dying” in the 1960s [3]. Contamination of this resource has been pervasive, persistent, and cumulative, and combined with issues of interactions between both historic and emerging contaminants, it is considered one of the greatest potential threats to global public health [4]. In the USA, the Safe Drinking Water Act defines contamination as any “physical, chemical, biological or radiological substance or matter in water” [5] or in other words anything present in water apart from H2O molecules. However the presence of a contaminant does not inherently indicate that a water supply is of poor quality. Instead thresholds of toxicological concern (TTC) have been established for individual chemicals and biological agents as guidelines for water quality standards, based upon acceptable daily exposure levels for p
Data Loading...
