Experts from the University of Barcelona warn about the ecological impact due to industrial dumping in Ripoll River

The new study, warning about the ecological impact by the industrial effluents in this part of the river, is dedicated to the ecologist Maria Rieradevall, lecturer of the UB and member of the group FEM.

A big environmental problem worldwide

In other countries around the world, the textile activity is usually linked to a high environmental cost when it comes to waste waters, without any treatment on rivers or hydric reservoirs. In these effluents, there are lots of polluting products -cloth dyers are specially toxic- which damage both human health and the aquatic environment. Reducing the emission of polluting agents and cleaning the industrial effluents are guidelines that should be taken to preserve the environment in industrial areas that are affected by these manufacturing procedures.

 According to Alberto Maceda, member of the IRBio and expert of the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC), “waste water from textile industries and other companies create a lot of compounds that are difficult to remove. Therefore, if waste water treatment plants donʼt focus on a specific treatment, industrial dumpings reach the river and can affect the trophic network. This problem is quite alarming in developing countries, where they make clothes for very well-known firms”.

 Not a single fish in the most polluted area

El Ripoll, belonging to Besós, is a Mediterranean river with a changing flow and crosses the cities of Castellar del Vallès, Sabadell and Barberà del Vallès. Near Castellar del Vallès, chemical and biological quality of the water has worsened in an area after the textile industrial activity, according to the indicators that were analyzed by the scientific team with the current regulation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), which is the tool of mandatory application for areas of water management for all members of the European Union.

“One of the first effects of the chemical pollutants on rivers -says Maceda- is the destructuration of the trophic networks due to the disappearance of sensitive species. In the most polluted areas, there is no trace of any fish. Another problem is the collecting of pollutants on tolerant species, because they pass them on to their predators. In winter and summer, with low flow conditions, the effects of the pollutants are even worse”.

When the European regulation on water is not performed

According to Professor Narcís Prat, Director of the Research Group Freshwater Ecology and Management (FEM) of the UB, “the ecological status of the Ripoll River depends on that area. At the beginning it is moderate or negative, we can say the river starts at the purifying plant of Sant Llorenç Savall, and it is not enough to treat the waste waters of the town. Some branches of the river, such as Castellò and Vall dʼHorta, show a good ecological status, although the latter suffers from some excessive extractions of water”.

“The river recovers when it gets to Les Arenes -says Narcís Prat- but the situation changes immediately since the Feliu del Racó segment has industrial activity that produces changes that were analyzed in the article of the journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety. Then, the ecological status of the river starts unfulfilling the rules of the WFD, and purifying plants in Castellar del Vallès and Sabadell arenʼt changing the state of the river, which is now moderate, when the river has a higher flow, and it gets worse when the hydric level lowers.

Saving a river affected by industrial dumping

Economical investment in purifying plants and restoration programs driven by some city councils improved the state of the Ripoll River, which has been stable for the last years. However, with global change effects, the flow of the rivers is expected to decrease over the coming years in Catalonia, a process that would affect its natural purifying capacity and its ecological quality.

According to Alberto Maceda, “the Ripoll River was like a sewer but its ecological status improved after the investment made on waste water treatment. However, there are some black dots in the river, -for example, the area studied in this article- that act like chemical barriers for moving organisms like fish.

“There is technology to purify industrial effluents” continued Maceda. “But another thing is the economic cost. It is necessary to find a balance between purifying investment and purifying capacity of the river, and in this case, the river flow is a key element. Lower flow involves more investment”.

According to Professor Narcís Prat, “the textile industry activity gets most of the water from the system and the river doesnʼt have an environmental flow, this is the main reason for the riverʼs degradation”.

“If there is no action towards this problem in that area of the river, the future situation will be like now or even worse. To improve the ecological status, which gained environmental quality over the last years, it would be necessary to improve the purifying process in industrial dumping but also applying a water saving plan, residential and industrial around all the area, and creating a collecting plan and use of storm waters, especially in the urban area” said Narcís Prat.