Copper leaching from recreational vessel antifouling paints in freshwater: A Berlin case study

Copper leached from recreational vessel antifouling paints can pose a threat to aquatic organisms. To date, leaching rates have mainly been studied in seawater and brackish water. The aim of this study was to investigate the copper input from antifouling paints to freshwater using field and laboratory studies. Therefore, a large sailing area in Berlin was sampled. According to a risk assessment, the use of copper containing antifouling paints in Berlins is predicted to have no significant impact on aquatic organisms. An exception was found in sport boat marinas where, in dependence on the boat number, the sediment copper concentrations were up to 2 times higher than the German environmental quality standard for sediments. The most important result revealed by the laboratory batch tests is that the copper leaching rate in freshwater is much lower compared to seawater and brackish water. The dissolution of copper from antifouling paints into freshwater is overestimated up to now. Nevertheless, the leached copper from antifouling paints is the second largest anthropogenic copper source in the urban area of Berlin and the third largest anthropogenic copper source in German freshwaters.