Environmental pollution from municipal waste. Transport, bioaccumulation and effects on wildlife near point sources in Trondheim, Norway

Cities produce large amounts of municipal waste, some of it toxic. Old landfills may leach contaminated water, posing potential hazard to the environment. Trondheim city is a major contributor of effluents to the Trondheimsfjorden ecosystem. People eat fi sh and mussels caught locally, and the shores for swimming and recreation. It is therefore important that the impact on the environmental quality of the fjord by discharged wastewater is monitored closely. The study will focus on the waste-water discharge d at Trondheim?s main point outlet, and also the water leaching from its main land-fill. We will follow the uptake and transport of selected pollutants, both ?old? and ?new?, and quantify their levels through consecutive steps in the food-chain. This incl udes PCBs, PBDEs, DDTs, Polyfluorinated compounds, estrogen mimics and pharmaceuticals. We will study the effects on breeding seabird in the close vicinity, by determining their hormonal status and productivity. We will also, by state-of-the-art simulatio n modelling, make predictive statements about how pollutants are transported and transformed in the fjord system. We will use a broad spectrum of state-of-the-art methods and techniques for this purpose. The levels of ?new? and ?conventional? pollutants at the different trophic levels will be used to estimate biomagnification rates. SPMDs will be used to establish the levels of different POPs in water near point sources. We will evaluate the ecotoxicological implications of the observed levels of the pol lutants in relation to reproductive success and biomarker response of three locally breeding seabird species. The results of the proposed project (pollutant levels in water, soil and biota, toxicological effects on organisms) will be communicated to envir onmental management bodies at all relevant levels, for planning purposes and remedial actions. In addition, the new methods and new compounds may be implemented in future monitoring schemes.