Pressions et état de la contamination chimique marine dans le voisinage d'une grande ville côtière méditerranéenne, le cas de Marseille

Marine pollution is one of the priority issues of the Mediterranean environment. This pollution comes from multiple sources including large coastal cities which are considered as hot-spots. The METROC project objective is to assess gross and net chemical contaminant flows related to large Mediterranean coastal cities, with a first application to the Marseilles area. The methodology consists of i) assessing the present state of the chemical contamination of the coastal environment; ii) assessing inputs to the sea from sewage, small rivers and storm water run-off; and iii) modelling the fate of some key contaminants, in order to attempt to establish a balance between inputs and exports towards the open sea. This short article presents a synthesis on these different phases.