Origin, Occurrence, and Behavior of Brominated Flame Retardants in the Ebro River Basin

Abstract

This work is part of the research included in the European project AQUATERRA, focused on the study of different persistent organic pollutants in different risk zones along the Ebro River basin. This chapter summarizes brominated flame retardant research in the Ebro area. Within a monitoring program at different risk zones in this river, two high contaminated areas were detected. The first one is located along the Cinca River, a tributary of Ebro River, downstream a heavily industrialized town (Monzón) and data showed a high HBCD contamination in this area. The second one is located along the Vero River, a tributary of Cinca River, downstream an industrial park in Barbastro. In this case, high contamination of deca-BDE-209 was found. Our work included the analysis of sediments and biota, with special attention on aspects such as temporal trends, bioavailability, and bioaccumulation of these contaminants. Moreover, an attempt of identification of source contamination was carried out, with the analysis of industrial effluents. In both cases, the industry responsible of the contamination was identified.