How to Implement User-Friendly BLMs in the Absence of DOC Monitoring Data: A Case Study on Bulgarian Surface Waters
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Chair of Water Supply, Sewerage, Water and Wastewater Treatment, Faculty of Hydraulic Engineering, University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, 1 Hr. Smirnenski Blvd., 1046 Sofia, Bulgaria
2
Chair of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, 1 J. Bourchier Blvd., 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Liudmila S. Shirokova
Water 2022, 14(2), 246; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14020246
Received: 28 November 2021
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Revised: 5 January 2022
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Accepted: 13 January 2022
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Published: 15 January 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insights into Organic Carbon, Iron, Metals and Phosphorus Dynamics in Freshwaters)
The metal bioavailability concept is implemented in the Water Framework Directive (WFD) compliance assessment. The bioavailability assessment is usually performed by the application of user-friendly Biotic Ligand Models (BLMs), which require dissolved metal concentrations to be used with the “matching” data of the supporting physicochemical parameters of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), pH and Cadissolved. Many national surface water monitoring networks do not have sufficient matching data records, especially for DOC. In this study, different approaches for dealing with the missing DOC data are presented: substitution using historical data; the appropriate percentile of DOC concentrations; and combinations of the two. The applicability of the three following proposed substitution approaches is verified by comparison with the available matching data: (i) calculations from available TOC data; (ii) the 25th percentile of the joint Bulgarian monitoring network DOC data (measured and calculated by TOC); and (iii) the 25th percentile of the calculated DOC from the matching TOC data for the investigated surface water body (SWB). The application of user-friendly BLMs (BIO-MET, M-BAT and PNEC Pro) to 13 surface water bodies (3 reservoirs and 10 rivers) in the Bulgarian surface waters monitoring network outlines that the suitability of the substitution approaches decreases in order: DOC calculated by TOC > the use of the 25th percentile of the data for respective SWB > the use of the 25th percentile of the Bulgarian monitoring network data. Additionally, BIO-MET is the most appropriate tool for the bioavailability assessment of Cu, Zn and Pb in Bulgarian surface water bodies.
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Keywords:
BLM; TOC; DOC; Fe; historical data
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MDPI and ACS Style
Venelinov, T.; Tsakovski, S. How to Implement User-Friendly BLMs in the Absence of DOC Monitoring Data: A Case Study on Bulgarian Surface Waters. Water 2022, 14, 246. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14020246
AMA Style
Venelinov T, Tsakovski S. How to Implement User-Friendly BLMs in the Absence of DOC Monitoring Data: A Case Study on Bulgarian Surface Waters. Water. 2022; 14(2):246. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14020246
Chicago/Turabian StyleVenelinov, Tony, and Stefan Tsakovski. 2022. "How to Implement User-Friendly BLMs in the Absence of DOC Monitoring Data: A Case Study on Bulgarian Surface Waters" Water 14, no. 2: 246. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14020246
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