Influence of technological and municipal wastewaters on vulnerable karst riverine system, Krka River in Croatia

Filipović Marijić, Vlatka; Kapetanović, Damir; Dragun, Zrinka; Valić, Damir; Krasnići, Nesrete; Redžović, Zuzana; Grgić, Ivana; Žunić, Jakov; Kružlicová, Dáša; Nemeček, Peter; Ivanković, Dušica; Vardić Smrzlić, Irena; Erk, Marijana (2018) Influence of technological and municipal wastewaters on vulnerable karst riverine system, Krka River in Croatia. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 25 (5). pp. 4715-4727. ISSN 0944-1344

| Request a personal copy from author

Official URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-0...

Abstract

Exceptional natural value of karst rivers, as well as their potential as a source of drinking water supply, contribute to importance of developing strict environmental protection. Although most of its watercourse is proclaimed national park, Krka River is impacted by technological and municipal wastewaters, which are released without proper purification only 2 km upstream of the park border. In order to assess water ecological status of the Krka River, vulnerability of karst ecosystem and potential threat to the Krka National Park, spatial and temporal variability of physico- chemical and microbiological water parameters, as well as concentrations of 25 total dissolved metals/metalloids were evaluated. All parameters indicated deteriorated water quality near the wastewater influences, which was for certain metals and bacterial counts even comparable to other world rivers of technological/rural catchment. Downstream location pointed to purification processes in karst river, although nutrients and conductivity were still in a range below good water quality and Al, Co, Fe, Li, Mn, Ni, Sr, Ti and Zn levels remained comparable to their levels in the pollution impacted area, especially in autumn, indicating season dependent processes. Presented data provided background status and identified pollution influences in the karst riverine system which indicated potential risk for protected area and a need for comprehensive water quality assessment.

Item Type:

Article

Additional Information:

The financial support of the "Adris Foundation" for the project: Evaluation of the Krka River water quality and potential risk to the Krka National Park by application of new bioindicators and biomarkers is gratefully acknowledged. The National Scholarship Programme of the Slovak Republic is acknowledged for the scholarship stay and statistical analyses improvement at Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava. The authors also appreciate the assistance of the Meteorological and Hydrological Service Office for providing the data on river water flow of the Krka River source. Special thanks to Zvjezdana Sostar Vulic for valuable help in measurement of the physico-chemical water parameters and Dr. Nevenka Mikac for the opportunity to perform metal measurements on HR ICP-MS.

Uncontrolled Keywords:

trace elements ; macro elements ; nutrients ; bacterial counts ; water ecological status ; national park

Subjects:

NATURAL SCIENCES > Chemistry

Divisions:

Division for Marine and Enviromental Research

Projects: