Simulating diluted bitumen spills in boreal lake limnocorrals - Part 1: Experimental design and responses of hydrocarbons, metals, and water quality parameters

Jose Luis Rodriguez-Gil; Sawyer Stoyanovich; Mark L Hanson; Bruce Hollebone; Diane M Orihel; Vince Palace; Robert Faragher; Fatemeh S Mirnaghi; Keval Shah; Zeyu Yang; Tyler A Black; Jeffrey Cederwall; Johanna Mason; Samuel Patterson; Lauren Timlick; Jonathan Y Séguin; Jules M Blais

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148537

Simulating diluted bitumen spills in boreal lake limnocorrals - Part 1: Experimental design and responses of hydrocarbons, metals, and water quality parameters

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Oct 10:790:148537. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148537. Epub 2021 Jun 23.

Authors

Jose Luis Rodriguez-Gil¹, Sawyer Stoyanovich², Mark L Hanson³, Bruce Hollebone⁴, Diane M Orihel⁵, Vince Palace⁶, Robert Faragher⁴, Fatemeh S Mirnaghi⁴, Keval Shah⁴, Zeyu Yang⁴, Tyler A Black³, Jeffrey Cederwall⁵, Johanna Mason⁵, Samuel Patterson⁵, Lauren Timlick³, Jonathan Y Séguin², Jules M Blais⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada; Department of Environment and Geography, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada; International Institute for Sustainable Development - Experimental Lakes Area, Winnipeg, MB R3B 0T4, Canada.
² Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada.
³ Department of Environment and Geography, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada.
⁴ Emergencies Science and Technology Section, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa, ON K1V 1H2, Canada.
⁵ Department of Biology and School of Environmental Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada.
⁶ International Institute for Sustainable Development - Experimental Lakes Area, Winnipeg, MB R3B 0T4, Canada.
⁷ Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada. Electronic address: jules.blais@uottawa.ca.

PMID: 34215441
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148537

Abstract

Large-scale, in-lake enclosures (limnocorrals) were used to simulate spills of diluted bitumen (dilbit) in a boreal lake. In this study we use these simulated spills, which covered a range of sizes (oil:water ratio) representative of the upper 25% of onshore crude oil spills in North America (2008-2019), to assess the fate of dilbit-derived hydrocarbons and metals as well as the impacts of the spills on standard water quality parameters. The systems were monitored over 70 days following the application of dilbit amounts ranging between 1.5 and 179.8 L into 10-m diameter, ~100 m³ limnocorrals. The concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in the water column increased rapidly over the first two weeks reaching a plateau that ranged between 200 μg/L and 2200 μg/L for the lowest and highest treatment respectively. The concentration of total polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) also increased over the first two weeks, prior to a slow decrease until day 70. The maximum measured concentrations in the highest treatment were 2858 ng/L for the sum of all 46 quantified PACs, 2716 ng/L for alkylated PACs and 154 ng/L for the 16 EPA priority PAHs. The concentrations of PACs in the sediment increased continuously over the study in the three highest treatments with maximum observed concentrations of 189 ng/g for ΣPAC₄₆, 169 ng/g for ΣPAC_alk. No significant treatment-related changes in the 16 EPA priority PAHs were observed in the sediment. Of the 25 metals quantified in the water column, only manganese, molybdenum, and vanadium displayed a significant treatment effect with increases of 280, 76 and 25% respectively in the total fraction. These results can help us understand and predict the fate of oil-derived contaminants following a spill and characterize the exposure of freshwater organisms living within them. These results should help inform the risk assessment of future dilbit transportation projects.

Keywords: Boreal lake; Dilbit; Freshwater; Mesocosms; Oil spill; PAH.

MeSH terms

Hydrocarbons
Lakes
Petroleum* / analysis
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons*
Research Design
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis
Water Quality

Substances

Hydrocarbons
Petroleum
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Water Pollutants, Chemical
asphalt