Total and inorganic arsenic in the fauna of the Guadalquivir estuary:: environmental and human health implications

To evaluate the impact on fauna of the release of toxic waste from the tailings dam operated by the Boliden Apirsa S.L company at Aznalcollar, Seville (Spain) a study was carried out of total and inorganic arsenic contents in 164 samples from six different estuary species, including molluscs, crustaceans and fish, collected at six sampling stations distributed along the estuary and mouth of the River Guadalquivir. The contents found, expressed in micrograms per gram wet weight, were as follows. Total arsenic: Crassostrea angulata - giant cupped oyster (2.44 +/- 0.45); Scrobicularia plana - peppery furrow (2.50 +/- 0.73); Palaemon longirostris - delta prawn (1.33 +/- 0.54); Uca tangeri - AfroEuropean fiddler crab (1.76 +/- 0.08); Melicertus kerathurus - shrimp (3.60 +/- 1.92); and Liza ramada - mullet (0.65 +/- 0.38). Inorganic arsenic: C. angulata (0.09 +/- 0.02); S. plana (0.38 +/- 0.23); P. longirostris (0.04 +/- 0.01); U. tangeri (0.22 +/- 0.03); M. kerathurus (0.03 +/- 0.01); and L. ramada (0.03 +/- 0.03). The levels of total As are comparable to those obtained by other authors. With respect to inorganic arsenic, only S. plana and U. tangeri present high levels of inorganic arsenic. This may be due to the fact that these organisms live in estuary sediments, reservoirs of inorganic arsenic, and ingest particles of sediments during feeding. Because of the lack of information for this area concerning previous levels of total and inorganic arsenic in the species analysed, it was not possible to establish the impact on the fauna of the River Guadalquivir estuary of the toxic spill resulting from the failure of the mine tailings dam at Aznalcollar. With respect to the implications to human health as a result of consumption of species from the Guadalquivir estuary, only with the species Scrobicularia plana, as a high consumption of this mollusc might, in some cases, exceed the maximum tolerable intake for inorganic arsenic indicated by the FAO/WHO. Consumption of the liver of L. ramada does not appear to present problems to human health. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.