Investigation of the effect of discharge of desalination plants on the accumulation of heavy metal copper (Cu) and its ecological risk assessment in the coastal sediments of the Persian Gulf (Case study: Bushehr city)

Chemical and condensate discharges of desalination plants into the environment may cause deterioration and damage to coastal water quality. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of desalination effluent on the accumulation of heavy metal copper and its ecological risk assessment in the sediments of Bushehr city in 24 sampling stations for one year. To measure the concentration of heavy metal copper and sediment grain size, 3 sediment samples were collected from each station by Van Veen Garb sampler. Three heavy metal-based pollution indices including contaminant factor, potential ecological risk assessment index and pollution load index were used in this study. In general, in most stations, the minimum and maximum concentrations of copper metal between different seasons were observed in winter (16.31±0.31) and summer (36.07±0.48), respectively. Also, the maximum concentration of copper metal was observed in stations affected by desalination effluent. Contaminant values for copper metal concentrations in the sampled sediments of control stations and close to desalination effluent during the four sampling seasons were less than one and in the range of 1<Cf<3, respectively, indicating "low pollution" and "moderate pollution" by this metal. In general, the results of the present study showed that effluents from desalination plants can affect the accumulation of heavy metals and in the long run lead to negative environmental effects on the biodiversity of the Persian Gulf.