Priority substances in combined sewer overflows: case study of the Paris sewer network.

This study was undertaken to supply data on both priority pollutant (PP) occurrence and concentrations in combined sewer overflows (CSOs). A single rain event was studied on 13 sites within the Paris sewer network. For each sample, a total of 66 substances, including metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, organotins, volatile organic compounds, chlorobenzenes, phthalates and alkylphenols were analyzed. Of the 66 compounds analyzed in all, 40 PPs including 12 priority hazardous substances were detected in CSOs. As expected, most metals were present in all samples, reflecting their ubiquitous nature. Chlorobenzenes and most pesticides were never quantified above the limit of quantification, while the majority of the other organic pollutants, except DEHP (median concentration: 22 µg.l(-1)), were found to lie in the µg.l(-1) range. For the particular rain event studied, the pollutant loads discharged by CSOs were evaluated and then compared to pollutant loads conveyed by the Seine River. Under the hydraulic conditions considered and according to the estimations performed, this comparison suggests that CSOs are potentially significant local source of metals, PAHs and DEHP. Depending on the substance, the ratio between the CSO and Seine River loads varied from 0.5 to 26, underscoring the important local impact of CSOs at the scale of this storm for most pollutants.

Research of trace metals as markers of entry pathways in combined sewers.

Combined sewers receive high toxic trace metal loads emitted by various sources, such as traffic, industry, urban heating and building materials. During heavy rain events, Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) can occur and, if so, are discharged directly into the aquatic system and therefore could have an acute impact on receiving waters. In this study, the concentrations of 18 metals have been measured in 89 samples drawn from the three pollutant Entry Pathways in Combined Sewers (EPCS): i) roof runoff, ii) street runoff, and iii) industrial and domestic effluents and also drawn from sewer deposits (SD). The aim of this research is to identify metallic markers for each EPCS; the data matrix was submitted to principal component analysis in order to determine metallic markers for the three EPCS and SD. This study highlights the fact that metallic content variability across samples from different EPCS and SD exceeds the spatio-temporal variability of samples from the same EPCS. In the catchment studied here, the most valuable EPCS and SD markers are lead, sodium, boron, antimony and zinc; these markers could be used in future studies to identify the contributions of each EPCS to CSO metallic loads.

Grain size distribution of metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in silt trap sediments from the combined sewer network of Paris (France).

For three years (2001 - 2003), sediment samples were extracted from about 100 silt traps (STs) spread out all over the combined sewer network of Paris. These STs, whose volume varied from 21 to 325 m3, were cleaned out as soon as their filling capacities were reached. All these sediment samples were analysed for physicochemical parameters (pH, organic matter (OM) content, grain size distribution), total hydrocarbons (THs), 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) selected from the priority list of the US-EPA, and heavy metals (Al, Ag, As, Cd, Cu, Cr, Sn, Fe, Mn, Hg, Ni, Pb, Zn). For each silt trap, six sediment samples were extracted before the clean out procedure: three samples were extracted from the sediment surface (5-10 cm depth) and three other samples were extracted from a deeper sediment layer (approximately at 1 m depth). The location of these sampling points allowed us to take into account the possible spatial fluctuation of pollutant loads in each ST. The first results showed that there were some important inter-site variations of pollutant contents. These variations have to be taken into account by the sewer manager for the fate of the ST sediments. Therefore, we decided to assess the grain size distribution of some pollutants. OM, heavy metals and PAHs have been investigated on the five grain size fractions (> 20 mm, 8-20 mm, 0.5-8 mm, 50-500 microm, < 50 microm) for 9 STs, which have been selected on their heavy metal content basis. This work aims at understanding the distribution of the pollutant contents and at improving the knowledge of the ST sediment pollution.

Contribution of different sources to the pollution of wet weather flows in combined sewers.

Experiments performed on "Marais" catchment, in central Paris, aimed to follow up the quality of wet weather flows from the entry to the exit of a combined sewer network. SS, VSS, COD, BOD5, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn concentrations were measured for an important number of rain events in roof, yard, street runoff, as well as in dry and wet weather flows at the catchment outlet. Mass entry-exit totals, at the scale of the catchment, were calculated over 31 rain events in order to evaluate the contribution of different types of runoff, of sanitary sewage and of sewer sediments to the total wet weather pollutant loads at the catchment outlet. The erosion of in-sewer pollutant stocks was found to be the main source of particles and of organic matter in wet weather flows, whereas heavy metal loads mainly originated from roof runoff, due to the corrosion of metallic roofs. Particles eroded inside the sewer during rain events were found to be quite different from the particles constituting the main part of sewer sediments: they are organic and biodegradable, with rather important settling velocities and seem to accumulate during dry weather periods. A change of the chemical form of heavy metals was noticed during the transport in the sewer and it is suspected that a fraction of the dissolved metals from the runoff is adsorbed on sewer sediments.

A street deposit sampling method for metal and hydrocarbon contamination assessment.

Urban surface contamination, by atmospheric deposits as well as human activities, is a major concern for urban pollution management. Besides coarse street deposits which are clearly perceived and easily removed, suspended solid (SS) surface loads and contamination by heavy metals and hydrocarbons are rarely assessed although they could be of major importance with regards to combined or separate server overflow (CSO and SSO) impacts. Both dry and wet vacuum sampling procedures have been first compared, in the laboratory, using dry and sieved clay or street deposits. Then the wet vacuum sampling procedure has been refined, coupling the injection of water and the hand-brushing of the surface prior to its vacuum cleaning, and evaluated on a car parking area close to the University. Finally this procedure has been assessed in Béarn Street within the 'Le Marais' district in Paris centre, and 34 samples have been analysed for metal and eight for aromatic hydrocarbon contamination. Heavy metal concentrations (0.1-1.7 g kg-1 dry wt. Cu, 0.9-6.1 g kg-1 dry wt. Pb and 1.5-4.6 g kg-1 dry wt. Zn) within street deposit samples collected in Paris centre, indicate a high contamination, especially for copper and zinc, as compared to reported data. Total polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are in the 3-11 mg kg-1 dry wt. range, thus approximately 10 times less contaminated than dry atmospheric deposits. This paper presents data obtained and discusses the difficulties encountered when sampling street deposits in busy areas of a city like Paris. The water jet street cleaning procedure used by Paris city workers was tested for its efficiency, by comparison of surface loads before and after the cleaning procedure. Although solids cleaning efficiency is highly variable (20-65%) and somewhat higher for particles larger than 100 microns, particulate metal cleaning efficiency is even more variable (0-75%) and particulate PAHs appear not to be significantly removed.