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International audience; Anthropogenic fibres are an emerging pollutant worldwide. The Can Gio mangrove area is located downstream of the Saigon River, and is characterised by high level of anthropogenic fibres originating from domestic and industrial textile and apparel manufacturing. In this area, biota is thus subjected to a high potential risk of anthropogenic fibre contamination. This study aims to characterise the accumulation of anthropogenic fibres in different tissues, i.e. gills, digestive systems, and remaining tissues, of white clams (Meretrix lyrata) cultivated in the Can Gio beach sand, during a seven-month sampling period. The results showed an average concentration of 3.6 ± 2.1 fibres individual-1 or 2.7 ± 2.4 fibres g-1 ww. Higher fibre accumulation was observed in remaining tissues than in gills and digestive systems, and no temporal variation was observed in all clam tissues. The intake of fibres by humans consuming clams was estimated to be 324 fibres inhabitant-1 yr-1 .

International audience; The hydrological dynamics of the Saigon River is ruled by a complex combination of factors, which need to be disentangled to prevent and limit risks of flooding and salt intrusion. In particular, the Saigon water discharge is highly influenced by tidal cycles with a relatively low net discharge. This study proposes a low-cost technique to estimate river discharge at high frequency (every 10 min in this study). It is based on a stage-fall-discharge (SFD) rating curve adapted from the general Manning Strickler law, and calibrated thanks to two ADCP campaigns. Two pressure sensors were placed at different locations of the river in September 2016: one at the centre of Ho Chi Minh City and one in Phu Cuong, 40 km upstream approximately. The instantaneous water discharge data were used to evaluate the net residual discharge and to highlight seasonal and inter-annual trends. Both water level and water discharge show a seasonal behaviour. Rainfall, including during the Usagi typhoon that hit the megalopolis in November 2018, has no clear and direct impact on water level and water discharge due to the delta flat morphology and complex response between main channel and side channel network and ground water in this estuarine system under tidal influence. However, we found some evidences of interactions between precipitation, groundwater, the river network and possibly coastal waters. This paper can be seen as a proof of concept to (1) present a low-cost discharge method that can be applied to other tidal rivers, and (2) demonstrate how the high-frequency discharge data obtained with this method can be used to evaluate discharge dynamics in tidal river systems.

[Departement_IRSTEA]Eaux [TR1_IRSTEA]BELCA [ADD1_IRSTEA]Systèmes aquatiques soumis à des pressions multiples; International audience; A wide range of persistent organic chemicals, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), some insecticides, as well as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and some perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) were analyzed in 17 bed sediments collected along the Saigon River and at adjacent canal mouths from upstream to downstream in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). Concentrations were rather low for PAHs, as well as for legacy PCBs and dichloro-diphenyl-trichlorethane and metabolites (DDTs), or below detection limits for several PFASs and all PBDEs measured. Several insecticides (chlorpyrifos-ethyl, and the pyrethroids cypermethrin and λ-cyhalothrin) displayed rather high concentrations at a few sites within the city. There was no distinct upstream – downstream trend for PAHs, (DDTs) or PCBs. Although adjacent canal sediments tended to be more contaminated than Saigon River sediments, the differences were not significant. Emissions are almost certainly substantial for PAHs, and probably also for other contaminants such as PBDEs and some PFASs. During the dry season, contaminants are presumably stored in the city, either in canals or on urban surfaces. Heavy rainfall during the monsoon period carries away contaminated particle flows into the canals and then the Saigon River. The strong tidal influence in the river channel hinders the accumulation of contaminated particles. Contaminated deposits should accordingly be investigated further downstream in depositional environments, such as the mangrove.

The Saigon River, a part of Saigon – Dongnai River basin located in Southern Vietnam, is about 250 km long with a catchment area of 4,717 km2. The Dau Tieng reservoir in the upstream of the Saigon River has been constructed for irrigation, flood protection purposes and the control of the intrusion of saline water. When flowing through HCMC, Saigon River is connected with canals and then joins Dongnai River to become the Nha Be River flowing through Can Gio Mangrove to the East Sea. Draining a low elevation coastal zone (LECZ), Saigon River is affected by the asymmetric semi-diurnal tides.The general goal of this thesis is to (i) assess trophic status in the Saigon – Dongnai River, (ii) assess the processes that lead nutrient behavior in the salinity gradient to estimate retention capacity with respect to the nutrients fluxes and (iii) calculate nutrient budgets to further be used for numerical simulations.The first step of this thesis consisted in a survey of nutrient concentrations (N, P, Si) at four sampling sites within the Saigon – Dongnai River system, which was carried out bi-monthly from July 2015 to December 2017, allowing to quantify the levels of nutrient concentrations and of indicators of eutrophication. This thesis pointed out an excess of nutrients in HCMC with concentrations of NH4+ and PO43- averaging to 0.7 mgN L-1 and 0.07 mgP L-1, respectively. We observed that untreated domestic discharges lead to the degradation of Saigon River’s water quality with extreme value of algal biomass (up 150 µChl-a L-1) and hypoxia conditions occurring episodically (DO < 2 mg L-1) during dry season. The eutrophic issue in the city center has no clear effect downstream because eutrophic water mass from Saigon River is efficiently mixed with Dongnai and sea water masses during the semi-diurnal tidal cycle, leading to efficient metabolism of nutrients within the estuarine partBased on field and laboratory surveys, we assessed the eutrophication of the river, and investigated P adsorption-desorption capacity onto suspended sediment (SS) within the salinity gradient. Field surveys showed a clear impact of the megacity, total P increasing three fold in HCMC center, as compared with upstream values. Downstream, in the tidally mixed estuarine area, the total P lowered to less than 0.5 gP kg-1. Laboratory experiments were carried out to characterize the influence of SS concentrations, salinity and turbulence on sorption/desorption processes. Among these observed variables, SS concentration was shown to be the main driver for adsorption capacity of P onto SS in salinity gradient. This underlines the role of cohesive sediment dynamics, as an important driver of nutrient dynamic in this estuarine river system.In this thesis, we analyzed the nutrients, suspended sediments and water discharges database from the Vietnamese Center of Monitoring of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (period 2012 to 2016). Nine sites along the Saigon River and one site in the Dongnai River were used to identify the reference water status before HCMC and the increasing fluxes from upstream to downstream. The calculated fluxes allow drawing a first sediment and nutrients budget at the scale of the Saigon – Dongnai Rivers and discussing the contribution of each sub basins to the total fluxes to the estuarine and coastal zones. Add one sentence pointing out the main result of this 2005-2016 dataseries analysis., La rivière Saigon, qui constitue un sous bassin du fleuve Nha Be, est située dans le sud du Vietnam. Cette rivière a une longueur d'environ 250 km et le bassin versant total à une surface de 4717 km2. Le réservoir de Dau Tieng, situé en amont de la rivière Saigon, a été construit pour mieux gérer l’irrigation, lutter contre les inondations et contrôler l’intrusion d’eau salée. En traversant HCMC, la rivière Saigon est connectée à plusieurs canaux puis rejoint la rivière Dongnai pour devenir le fleuve Nha Be qui traverse la zone de mangrove de Can Gio et se jette dans la mer de l'Est. La rivière Saigon et son bassin versant sont situés dans la plaine côtière et sont soumis au balancement quotidien des marées.L'objectif général de cette thèse est (i) d’évaluer l'état trophique de la rivière Saigon - Dongnai, (ii) d’étudier les processus à l’origine de la dynamique des nutriments, en particulier le rôle des sédiments en suspension, du mélange turbulent et du gradient de salinité, afin d'estimer la capacité de rétention par rapport aux flux d'éléments nutritifs; (ii) d’utiliser ces mesures de terrain et de laboratoire pour envisager une simulation numérique de ce système estuarien.La première étape de cette thèse a consisté en une étude des concentrations en nutriments (N, P, Si) sur quatre sites d’échantillonnage dans le système de la rivière Saigon – Dongnai. Les mesures ont été réalisées deux fois par mois de juillet 2015 à décembre 2017 pour évaluer les niveaux de concentration en éléments nutritifs et l’état d’eutrophisation. Cette thèse a mis en évidence un excès de nutriments dans HCMC avec des concentrations de NH4+ et de PO43- atteignant en moyenne 0.7 mgN L-1 et 0.07 mgP L-1, respectivement. Nous avons observé que des rejets domestiques non traités entraînaient une dégradation de la qualité de l’eau de la rivière Saigon, avec une valeur extrême de biomasse algale (150 µChl-a L-1) et des périodes d’hypoxie (DO < 2 mg L-1), principalement en saison sèche. L’eutrophisation de la rivière dans la zone urbaine dense n'a pas d'effet clair en aval, car la masse d'eau eutrophie de la rivière Saigon est efficacement mélangée avec les masses d'eau de mer et de la Dongnai pendant chaque cycle de marée. Ce qui met en évidence le rôle tampon (capacité de métabolisation) de l’estuaire entre les apports amont et la mer.Sur la base d'enquêtes de terrain et d’expérience en laboratoire, nous avons évalué les causes de l'eutrophisation de la rivière et étudié la capacité d'adsorption-désorption du phosphore sur les sédiments en suspension dans le gradient de salinité. Les enquêtes sur le terrain ont montré un impact clair de la mégapole, le P total augmentant de trois fois dans le centre de HCMC, par rapport aux valeurs en amont. En aval, dans la zone estuarienne mélangée par des marées, le P total descend à moins de 0.5 gP kg-1. Les expériences en laboratoire ont montré le rôle clé de la concentration en sédiments cohésifs en suspension sur la capacité d’adsorption de P sur les particules dans le gradient de salinité.Dans cette thèse, nous avons également analysé une base de données des nutriments, des sédiments en suspension et des rejets d’eau de 2012 à 2016 (données du service de surveillance de la qualité de l’eau vietnamien de la province d’HCMV). Neuf sites le long de la rivière Saigon et un site dans la rivière Dongnai ont permis de déterminer l’état de référence à l’amont et à l’aval d’Ho Chi Minh Ville. Les flux calculés permettent de dresser un premier bilan sédimentaire et nutritif à l’échelle des fleuves Saigon – Dongnai, de discuter de la contribution de chaque sous bassin aux flux totaux et de dresser des hypothèses sur l’état géomorphologique et environnemental actuel et futur des zones estuariennes et côtières.

International audience; Land-based macroplastic is considered one of the major sources of marine plastic debris. However, estimations of plastic emission from rivers into the oceans remain scarce and uncertain, mainly due to a severe lack of standardized observations. To properly assess global plastic fluxes, detailed information on spatiotemporal variation in river plastic quantities and composition are urgently needed. In this paper, we present a new methodology to characterize riverine macroplastic dynamics. The proposed methodology was applied to estimate the plastic emission from the Saigon River, Vietnam. During a 2-week period, hourly cross-sectional profiles of plastic transport were made across the river width. Simultaneously, sub-hourly samples were taken to determine the weight, size and composition of riverine macroplastics (>5 cm). Finally, extrapolation of the observations based on available hydrological data yielded new estimates of daily, monthly and annual macroplastic emission into the ocean. Our results suggest that plastic emissions from the Saigon River are up to four times higher than previously estimated. Importantly, our flexible methodology can be adapted to local hydrological circumstances and data availability, thus enabling a consistent characterization of macroplastic dynamics in rivers worldwide. Such data will provide crucial knowledge for the optimization of future mediation and recycling efforts.