Contaminated Freshwater Sediments as Chemical Delayed-Action Bombs

Abstract

The pollution of environment with various micropollutants, in particular toxic metals, often leads to their accumulation in different components of ecosystems, for example in freshwater sediments. The freshwater sediments interact with agricultural production of future, whether by floods or by disposing of dredged sediments on agricultural soil. Answers to the following questions are sought in the review: 1. How do anaerobic freshwater sediments accumulate different pollutants ? 2. What happens to the anaerobic sediments if they become aerobic, for example due to floods, which lower the water level ? 3. Which soil remediation techniques can be used for treatment of contaminated sediments ? The review of feasible principles includes also description of their technological applications and a comparison of costs. Special attention is paid to the implications of these phenomena on wetland systems for water treatment, which are increasingly used at remote places and small agricultural enterprises. However, the impacts of contamination of the wetlands on their overall economy is not yet known.