Quality and quantity of exchanges between lagoon and sea. Organic and inorganic micropollutants.

Levels of hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons and trace metals dissolved in the water and sorbed on SPM have been determined at the inlets of Lido and Malamocco of the Venice Lagoon using time-integrating water samplers with the aim of computing exchange fluxes between the Lagoon and the Adriatic Sea. The contribution of solute and particulate forms to the total concentrations of chemical pollutants varies with the element and the compound considered. Calculated balances of fluxes show that organic contaminants are generally outgoing at Lido and, with minor extent, at Malamocco, while trace metals appear outgoing at Malamocco in the suspended phase. These results are considered valid only for the time periods relative to the campaigns carried out and not extendible to annual mass balances.