[Environmental justice promotion in industrially contaminated sites].

The communities residing close to industrially contaminated sites are often affected by several fragilities, particularly of a socioeconomic nature. The disadvantaged conditions have often resulted from their marginalization in the decision-making related to the industrialization processes and may persist even when action is taken to limit the harmful consequences for the natural and social environment. Exposure to contaminants and the resulting health risks often regard socioeconomic deprived communities or the most disadvantaged subgroups, generating conditions of environmental injustice.

Toxicity risk assessment of mercury, DDT and arsenic legacy pollution in sediments: A triad approach under low concentration conditions.

The determination of sediment toxicity is challenging due to site-specific factors affecting pollutants distribution and bioavailability, especially when contamination levels are close to expected non-effect concentrations. Different lines of evidence and sensitive tools are necessary for a proper toxicity risk assessment. We examined the case study of the Toce River (Northern Italy), where past industrial activities determined Hg, DDT and As enrichment in sediments.

In situ bioavailability of DDT and Hg in sediments of the Toce River (Lake Maggiore basin, Northern Italy): accumulation in benthic invertebrates and passive samplers.

DDT and mercury (Hg) contamination in the Toce River (Northern Italy) was caused by a factory producing technical DDT and using a mercury-cell chlor-alkali plant. In this study, DDT and Hg contamination and bioavailability were assessed by using different approaches: (1) direct evaluation of sediment contamination, (2) assessment of bioaccumulation in native benthic invertebrates belonging to different taxonomic/functional groups, and (3) evaluation of the in situ bioavailability of DDT and Hg using passive samplers. Sampling sites were selected upstream and downstream the industrial plant along the river axis.

Evaluating the impact of a fluoropolymer plant on a river macrobenthic community by a combined chemical, ecological and genetic approach.

Effect-based monitoring is a recommended approach suggested in European Guidelines to assess the response of ecosystem affected by a pollution source, considering the effects at community, population, individual but also at suborganism level. A combined chemical, ecological and genetic approach was applied in order to assess the impact of a fluoropolymer plant on the macrobenthic community of the Northern Italian river Bormida (Piedmont region). The macrobenthic community living downstream of the industrial discharge was chronically exposed to a mixture of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), with perfluorooctanoic acid as the main compound, at concentrations up to several μgL(-1).