Kemakta was commissioned by an industrial client to conduct an investigation into the bioavailable concentrations of the metals zinc, copper, and nickel in a receiving water body downstream of the company’s facilities.
According to the regulations of the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (HVMFS 2019:25), bioavailable concentrations of these metals in water should be used for classification under the environmental quality standards (MKN). The Biotic Ligand Model (BioMet) was used to determine what fraction of the metal concentration was expected to be bioavailable by considering complexation with dissolved organic carbon (DOC), the influence of pH and the competition with calcium. The calculations indicated that the measured concentrations of copper, nickel, and zinc in the surface water downstream of the company’s discharge are only marginally bioavailable and that the bioavailable concentrations of these metals were below their respective Environmental quality standards.
