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5B b - RA: Site specific (WEP/208) Comparison of several alternatives to assess fate & exposure as a previous phase in ecological risk assessment. Herrera, Israel, Schuhmacher, Marta, Castells, Francesc, ABSTRACT- Environmental risk assessment procedures, involves the development of two very important aspects. Both, the inherent capacity of the substances to cause negative effects and, the exposition or interaction of these substances within receptors (ecosystems or humans), are closely relating with the fate analysis and the distribution in the environment. Currently, several models exist in the market. They predict the transport and exposition of the substance, based on fugacity and/or partition coefficients. Furthermore, the classification of substances and their effects in the environment, depend on the half-life time, stability of the emission and the characteristics of the landscape. These models, allow a realistic estimation of the distribution and concentration of substances in several compartments. The current research work, assess the risks to ecosystems by classifying and characterising the released substances, regarding to emission, persistence, and toxicity. In this frame, several models for fate evaluation, have been applied to characterise the environmental risk to ecosystems. The air, surface water, sediment and soil were chosen as compartments for the fate analysis, and the PEC and PNEC concentration have been used in order to obtain the risks in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. An environmental risks assessment for electrical supply systems was developed as a case study. Key words: Ecological risk assessment, Fate & exposure analysis, Terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem, Electrical supply systems |
