Environmental impact of the Midia Port - Black Sea (Romania), on the coastal sediment quality

The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of potential pollution sources, mainly from the upstream anthropogenic sources and port-related activities. The investigated area covered a wide range of anthropogenic impacts (e.g., industrial wastes, storm water runoff, accidental oil spills, intentional discharges and shipping activities). The quality of water and sediments was assessed using standard methods, as physical-chemical parameters, chemistry and biology (microbiology, ecotoxicology) aiming to figure the level of pollution and the effect of port-related activities. Seawater quality results agreed generally with environmental standards. Though, in some samples the concentrations of sulphates (mg/l) and heavy metals (mu g/l), as B, As and Se exceeded the recommended limits, without posing a serious environmental concern. Most of the surface sediment samples contain critical levels of hydrocarbons (C > 12), (mg/kg), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (ng/g) and polychlorobiphenyls (ng/g). For some heavy metals (mg/kg), exchangeable concentrations were found to be very close or above the regulations. The significance of this study is incontestable taking into account the lack of previous relevant historical data of this area. In this sense, it was possible to indicate, in general, good environmental conditions, despite the industrial and concentrated local port-related activities in the investigated area.