{"id":1356,"date":"2012-03-15T15:17:43","date_gmt":"2012-03-15T14:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/?p=1356"},"modified":"2012-03-19T14:24:23","modified_gmt":"2012-03-19T13:24:23","slug":"heavy-metal-and-organic-chemical-contaminants-in-wastewater-discharged-from-leather-tanneries-in-the-lanus-district-of-buenos-aires-argentina-april-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/?p=1356","title":{"rendered":"Heavy metal and organic chemical contaminants in wastewater discharged from leather tanneries in the Lan\u00fas district of Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Argentina-tanneries-Technical-Note-07-2011-final.pdf\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1357\" title=\"Argentina tanneries 2012\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Argentina-tanneries-2012.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"142\" \/><\/a>Labunska, I., Brigden, K., Santillo D. &amp; Johnston, P. (2012) Heavy metal and organic chemical contaminants in wastewater discharged from leather tanneries in the Lan\u00fas district of Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 2011.  Greenpeace Research Laboratories Technical Note 07\u20102011, publ. March 2012: 33 pp.<\/p>\n<p>Download <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Argentina-tanneries-Technical-Note-07-2011-final.pdf\">report<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\n.<br \/>\n.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Executive Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Five wastewater and three sediment samples associated with five leather tanning facilities located in the Lan\u00fas district of Buenos Aires (Argentina) were analysed at the Greenpeace Research Laboratories for the presence of heavy metal and organic chemical contaminants, as well as a single sample of water from the main Mill\u00e1n \u2018pluvial\u2019 rainwater collection system serving the district.\u00a0 All samples were collected between 28<sup>th<\/sup> April and 5<sup>th<\/sup> May 2011 and stored and transported refrigerated and in the dark prior to analysis.\u00a0 A range of metals and volatile organic chemical contaminants (VOCs) were analysed quantitatively using appropriate standards.\u00a0 Semi-volatile organic chemicals were analysed qualitatively (to determine their presence only)) through a process of GC-MS screening in SCAN mode.<\/p>\n<p>Key results can be summarized as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Concentrations of dissolved chromium in (filtered) wastewaters being discharged by all five tanneries were above what may be expected for uncontaminated surface waters, and furthermore\u00a0 the concentrations in effluents from the Maria Lettieri and Angel Giordano facilities were particularly high (2330 and 3430 ug\/l respectively).\u00a0 Such high dissolved chromium concentrations, in the absence of detectable levels of chromium (VI), suggest that the less soluble form chromium (III) is being held in solution in the form of soluble complexes with other chemicals in the wastewater.\u00a0 Despite the apparent absence of chromium (VI) residues in these cases, the toxicity of chromium (III) to the aquatic environment (especially to algae and fish) following release of wastewaters at these levels should not be disregarded, and there is also the potential for oxidative conversion of a proportion of the chromium (III) to chromium (VI) following release.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Chromium concentrations were even higher in the whole (unfiltered) water samples, as this includes chromium in suspended matter also.\u00a0 Concentrations in the five effluents ranged from 208 ug\/l to more than 14 000 ug\/l (14 mg\/l), the highest being recorded in effluent from the Maria Lettieri facility.\u00a0 Sediments collecting in the effluent discharge pipes which carry wastewater from three of the facilities to the sewer system were found to contain between 3% and 8% chromium by weight, extremely high concentrations possibly resulting in part from the accumulation of insoluble chromium compounds and perhaps small fragments of tanned hide.\u00a0 Such heavily contaminated sediments may be acting as longer term sources of chromium to the sewer and, thereby, the aquatic environment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Elevated chromium concentrations were even detectable in a single sample of water collected from the Mill\u00e1n \u2018pluvial\u2019 rainwater collection system, despite the potential for dilution with run-off and discharges from other sources.\u00a0 Unfiltered (whole) water from the collector contained 2380 ug\/l chromium (i.e. more than 2 mg\/l), suggesting a clear signature of chromium inputs arising from the high density of small and medium leather processing enterprises located in the Lan\u00fas district.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Patterns of contamination of wastewaters and sediments with semi-volatile organic compounds were complex, but showed some characteristics common to many or all of the five facilities sampled.\u00a0 Between 55 and 83 individual organic compounds were resolved in wastewater samples, and between 94 and 137 in sediment samples, though in both cases the proportion of these which could be reliably identified was relatively low (e.g. only 31-49% total number of compounds in the case of the effluents).\u00a0 Such a result is common to organic screening analysis of complex wastewaters of this nature, but nonetheless inevitably limits the overall assessment of the nature and extent of chemical contamination.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The biocide\/preservative chemical 4-chloro-3-methylphenol (<em>p<\/em>-chlorocresol), known to be used in preventing degradation of hides during processing, was a prominent characteristic in all five tannery effluents and in the water from the \u2018pluvial\u2019 collector.\u00a0 This compound is classified as \u2018harmful\u2019 and as \u2018very toxic to aquatic life\u2019 under the UN Globally Harmonised System for classification and labeling of chemicals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Among other organic compounds commonly found were other chemicals reportedly used as biocides and leather auxiliaries, including 2-butoxyethanol phosphate, 2-(2-butoxyethoxy)ethanol, quinoline and isoquinoline, hydroxybiphenyl, benzothiazole and 2-methylthiobenzothiazole.\u00a0 Phthalate esters were also prominent components in some samples, including DEHP, DBP, DiBP and BBP which are all recognised as Substances of Very High Concern under the REACH Regulation within Europe because of their toxicity to reproduction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Effluent from two of the five tanneries (La Teresa and Angel Giordano) also contained residues of the surfactant chemicals nonylphenol ethoxylates, or NPEs (monoethoxylates in this case); that from Angel Giordano also contained the related chemical nonylphenol, also as an isomeric mix.\u00a0 Nonylphenol (NP) is widely recognised and regulated as a priority pollutant in water, primarily because of its endocrine- (hormone-) disrupting properties in fish and other organisms.\u00a0 Nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) will also degrade over time to form NP.\u00a0 The use of these chemicals is therefore prohibited or severely restricted in Europe and in several other parts of the world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Traces of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), in this case chlorinated solvents and by-products of chlorination, were found in all six wastewater samples, though by far the most significantly contaminated was the effluent from the Maria Lettieri tannery.\u00a0 This sample contained 103 ug\/l of <em>cis<\/em>-1,2-dichloroethene (1,2-dichloroethylene) and 216 ug\/l of trichloroethene (trichloroethylene), both of which are classified under the UN GHS as harmful to the aquatic environment.\u00a0 In addition, trichloroethene is classified as carcinogenic (category 1B) and as a possible genotoxic substance under the UN system.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Further investigations would be necessary in order to try to identify specific process sources of the chemicals identified in the wastewater discharges and associated sediments.\u00a0 Nonetheless, taken together, the results from this study indicate that the leather tanning and processing industry in Lan\u00fas is a significant source of chromium and various organic chemical contaminants to the wastewater receiving system, which ultimately links to, and contaminates, the main \u2018pluvial\u2019 rainwater collection system.\u00a0 Depending on the existence, nature and effectiveness of any subsequent treatment downstream from the point at which the wastewater sample was collected from the Mill\u00e1n \u2018pluvial\u2019, such discharges could well also be a significant contributor to wider contamination of surface waters and sediments of the Riachuelo basin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Labunska, I., Brigden, K., Santillo D. &amp; Johnston, P. (2012) Heavy metal and organic chemical contaminants in wastewater discharged from leather tanneries in the Lan\u00fas district of Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 2011. Greenpeace Research Laboratories Technical Note 07\u20102011, publ. March 2012: 33 pp. Download report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,13,16,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1356"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1359,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356\/revisions\/1359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.to\/greenpeace\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}