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Enhanced Arsenic Mobility in a Dystrophic Water Reservoir System After Acidification Recovery

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Abstract

Arsenic concentrations in a drinking water reservoir system in the Eastern Ore mountains (Osterzgebirge, Germany) were observed over a 17-year period. The region experienced an environmental change during the past 20 years with decreasing acid, sulphur and nitrogen deposition and a recovering vitality of forested catchment sites. An increase of the arsenic content in the reservoir waters during that change was observed. This was caused by a diminished nitrate supply leading to lower redox potential in the sediments favouring sediment arsenic release. The recent annual cycle in the Altenberg reservoir water arsenic concentration was found to be independent from artificial aeration of the hypoxic hypolimnion during the summer stratification. However, we found a strong seasonal dependent change in water As concentration, with a maximum in autumn and a minimum in spring. The low productive system is driven by peat derived organic matter. For the recent arsenic catchment yield coherencies to dissolved organic carbon export and runoff intensity were found, indicating rising arsenic loads due to climate-related soil organic matter destabilization. Thus, in the reservoir system, both dry and wet climate conditions can increase the water As concentrations due to an internal arsenic release and a catchment arsenic import.

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Acknowledgements

The experimental studies were funded by the State Reservoir Administration of Saxony. We thank the Paulsdorf and Tharandt laboratory staffs for sampling and analysis. Special thanks to Gunter Ilgen (BayCEER, Bayreuth, Germany) and Britta Planer-Friedrich (Bayreuth University, Germany) for methylated and thiolated speciation analysis and to Britta Planer-Friedrich for comments to the manuscript. We thank Silke Neu for language proofreading.

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  1. Arndt Weiske

    Present address: Institute of Plant and Wood Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062, Dresden, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of General Ecology and Environmental Protection, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062, Dresden, Germany

    Arndt Weiske, Jörg Schaller & E. Gert Dudel

  2. State Reservoir Administration of Saxony, Bahnhofstraße 14, 01796, Pirna, Germany

    Tilo Hegewald & Ingo Werner

  3. Environmental Geochemistry, University Bayreuth, Universitätsstrasse 30, 95447, Bayreuth, Germany

    Jörg Schaller

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  1. Arndt Weiske
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Correspondence to Arndt Weiske.

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Additional file 1

Table S1: Spearman correlations of water parameters in the waters of the reservoir system, analyzed in biweekly values between May 2008 and September 2014. a) Spearman correlations of water parameters in Quergraben tributary. b) Spearman correlations of water parameters in Neugraben tributary. c) Spearman correlations of water parameters in Galgenteich water (transfer flow to Altenberg reservoir). d) Spearman correlations of water parameters in Altenberg reservoir water, depth profile 12.5 m deep. (DOC 109 kb)

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Weiske, A., Hegewald, T., Werner, I. et al. Enhanced Arsenic Mobility in a Dystrophic Water Reservoir System After Acidification Recovery. Water Air Soil Pollut 228, 285 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-017-3434-1

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