Search

The authors take into consideration the results obtained from the application of the different methods and systems of river monitoring (E.B.I, Law 152/99, I.F.F), and they evaluate the agreement of the final judgment. The comparative analysis is conducted pointing out the conceptual and methodological differences of the three systems of the river monitoring. A good agreement of judgement arises from the correlation.

The article underlines the fundamental importance of the protection and promotion of environmental quality for the human health. The evolution of fluvial monitoring techniques is contemplated from chemical and bacteriological analysis until the Index Functional Index (I.F.F). This evolution it's very important because shows a new methodological and cultural maturation that has carried from a anthropocentric vision until an ecocentric vision. The target of this ecological vision is the re-establishment of ecological functionality of the rivers, eliminating the consumer's vision of the water considered only as a usable resource. The importance of an correct monitoring of a river is confirmed, even though the preventive approach priority remains.

Persistent organic pollutants are object of a global threaty between governments, including measures to reduce or eliminate their release in the environment. Their presence and levels found in some organisms of the Mediterranean Sea appear to give some concern. The preliminary risk assessment presented here, infact, for dioxin-like action chemicals, shows a potential hazard for species belonging to higher levels of the food web. For example, in the eggs of a Mediterranean shark species, dioxin-like action PCBs concentration levels are one magnitude order higher than the No Observed Effect Level, evaluated on eggs of a laboratory fish species. Marine mammals, in addition, appear particularly sensitive to tissue levels of POPs. Their sensitivity to specific pathogenic organisms appears increased in specimen showing higher levels of these microcontaminants.