Ecotoxicological Assessment of Contaminated River Sites as a Proxy for the Water Framework Directive: an Acid Mine Drainage Case Study Tânia Vidal & Joana Luísa Pereira & Nelson Abrantes & Amadeu M V M Soares & Fernando Gonçalves Received: 22 March 2012 / Accepted: 17 September 2012 / Published online: 16 October 2012 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012 Abstract Metal contamination of freshwater bodies resulting from mining activities or deactivated mines is a common problem worldwide such as in Portugal. Braçal (galena ore) and Palhal (pyrrhotite, chalcopy- rite, galena, sphalerite, and pyrite ore), located in a riverside position, are both examples of deactivated mining areas lacking implemented recovery plans since their shutdown in the early mid-1900s. In both mining areas, effluents still flow into two rivers. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the potential hazard posed by the mining effluents to freshwater communities. Therefore, short- and long-term ecotox- icological tests were performed on elutriates from river sediments collected at each site using standard test organisms that cover different functional levels (Vibrio fischeri , Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, Lemna minor, and Daphnia sp.). The results show that elutriates from the sediments of Palhal were very toxic to all tested species, while in contrast, elutriates from Braçal showed generally no toxicity for the tested species. Our study highlights the usefulness of using an ecotoxicological approach to help in the prioritiza- tion/scoring of the most critical areas impacted by deactivated mines. This ecotoxicological test battery can provide important information about the ecological status of each concerning site before investing in the application of time-consuming and costly methods de- fined by the Water Framework Directive or can stand as a meaningful complementary analysis. Keywords Deactivated mines . Metals . Ecotoxicological test battery . Water Framework Directive 1 Introduction The mining industry is probably one of the anthropic activities causing great impact on the environment since it is responsible for the change in landscape and deforestation (Starnes and Gasper 1995), as well as it constitutes a major source of freshwater contam- ination by metals along with industrial activities and urban runoff (Hickey and Golding 2002; Yim et al. 2006). Metal pollution of streams and rivers is a major concern within management plans for freshwater worldwide, and mining activities in particular have been shown to promote serious disturbance in trophic chains, which ultimately reflects at the ecosystem lev- el (e.g., Peplow and Edmonds 2005). Deactivated Water Air Soil Pollut (2012) 223:6009–6023 DOI 10.1007/s11270-012-1335-x T. Vidal : J. L. Pereira (*) : A. M. V. M. Soares : F. Gonçalves Department of Biology, CESAM (Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal e-mail: jpereira@ua.pt N. Abrantes Department of Environment and Planning, CESAM (Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, Aveiro 3810-193, Portugal