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Spatial and temporal variability and sources of dissolved trace elements in the Sava River (Slovenia, Croatia)

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Abstract

The spatial and temporal variability of dissolved trace elements (Al, As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Sr, Ti, U, V and Zn) in the upper and middle reaches of the Sava River during two campaigns (2007/2008 and 2017/2018) was examined. The study also included important tributaries and wastewater effluents. No crucial change in metal concentrations in the Sava River water between the two sampling periods was detected. Elements Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Sb and Zn had higher concentrations at several sites in the first period, whereas Ba, Cd and Pb in the second period. The influence of wastewater discharges proved to be negligible. The highest levels of potentially toxic metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Sb, V and Zn) were found downstream of the industrial town of Sisak. Concentration–discharge relationship of dissolved elements showed a chemostatic behaviour for As, Cr, Cu, Sr and V and chemodynamic behaviour for all other elements. The UNMIX model, used to identify and quantify metal sources, indicated that soil weathering was the main source of most elements (Al, As, Ba, Co, Cu, Fe, Li, Ni, Sb, Sr and V), with an anthropogenic contribution for Cd, Mo, Pb, Ti and Zn, while Mn and U were associated with colloid formation. The Sava River was defined as moderately polluted regarding metals, whose water quality meets environmental quality standards (EQS). These results may help to better understand the behaviour of dissolved metals in rivers under anthropogenic pressure and to control pollution in the Sava River Basin.

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Fig. 1
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Fig. 5

Source contributions of each element in the Sava River generated by the UNMIX model

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Data availability

The datasets are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Meteorological and Hydrological Services of the Republic of Croatia and Slovenia for providing the hydrological data. The authors also sincerely thank Nenad Muhin for technical support during the sampling campaigns. Finally, the article was significantly improved by helpful comments from three anonymous reviewers.

Funding

The sampling of the Sava River during the period 2007/2008 was performed in the framework of the NATO Science for Peace and Security Program, Project SfP 982590 — Assessment of hazardous chemical contamination in the Sava River Basin. The sampling in the period 2017/2018 was carried out in the framework of the bilateral project BI-HR/16–17-025, supported by the Croatian Ministry of Science and Slovenian Research Agency, and projects COMPASS (grant number IP-2014–09-7031) and TRACESS (grant number IP-2013–11-7555) supported by Croatian Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division for Marine and Environmental Research, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička cesta 54, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Mavro Lučić, Nevenka Mikac, Neda Vdović & Niko Bačić

  2. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126, Milan, Italy

    Veronica Nava

  3. Department of Environmental Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Janja Vidmar & Radmila Milačič

Authors
  1. Mavro Lučić
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  2. Nevenka Mikac
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  3. Neda Vdović
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Contributions

Mavro Lučić: Writing—original draft, methodology, conceptualisation, supervision. Nevenka Mikac: Writing—review and editing, conceptualisation. Neda Vdović: Writing—review and editing, investigation. Niko Bačić: Investigation. Veronica Nava: Investigation, formal Analysis. Janja Vidmar: Writing—review and editing, investigation. Radmila Milačič: Writing—review and editing, methodology.

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Correspondence to Mavro Lučić.

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Lučić, M., Mikac, N., Vdović, N. et al. Spatial and temporal variability and sources of dissolved trace elements in the Sava River (Slovenia, Croatia). Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 31734–31748 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17769-9

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