Copper & compounds: Environmental effects
Description
Copper and compounds occur naturally in the environment and is essential to animals and plants. Copper is toxic to many bacteria and viruses. Copper is commonly found as copper (II) in natural waters and the free copper (II) ion is potentially very toxic to aquatic life, both acutely and chronically. Its toxicity increases with decreasing water hardness and dissolved oxygen concentration, and decreases with high concentrations of dissolved organic compounds and suspended solids. Alkalinity and pH are other factors that influence copper toxicity. Copper is expected to bioaccumulate in fish tissues. Copper is normally complex-bound in soil, greatly diminishing its toxicity. No data are available on the short-term and the long-term effects of copper to plants, birds, or land animals.
Entering the environment
Copper occurs naturally in the earth's crust, and in seawater at low concentrations. It is also found in combined form in several minerals including chalcopyrite, chalcocite and bornite.
Copper may be released as particles into the atmosphere or as dissolved compounds in water. Copper is also released from natural sources such as volcanoes, windblown dusts, decaying vegetation and forest fires.
Copper usually attaches to particles of organic matter, clay, soil or sand.
Where it ends up
Copper, as the element, does not break down in the environment. Most copper released to air, water, sediment, and soil strongly attaches to other particles, thus reducing the toxicity of copper.
Environmental guidelines
In 2000, the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC) and the Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand (ARMCANZ) established trigger levels of 1.0-2.5 micrograms of copper per litre of fresh water and 0.3-8 micrograms of copper per litre of marine water. A trigger level for sediment quality has been recommended at 65 milligrams of copper per kilogram of sediment, calculated on a dry-weight basis. In recreational water bodies, the recommended level for copper is 1 milligram per litre of water.
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