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applied sciencesArticle Impactof TouristBehavioron theDischarge ofSunscreen Contamination inAquatic Parks,Sinkholes, andBeaches of theMexican Caribbean

Diego ArmandoCasas-Beltr

n

1,*, KarelysFebles-Moreno 2,Emely Hernandez-Yac

3, CourtneyMaloof Gallaher3,

Jes s Alvarado-Flores

1,*,Rosa Mar½a Leal-Bautista

1and ???????Citation:Casas-Beltrán,D.A.;

Febles-Moreno,K.; Hernandez-Yac,

E.; Gallaher,C.M.;Alvarado-Flor es,J.;

Leal-Bautista, R.M.;Lenczewski, M.

Impact ofT ouristBehavioronthe

Dischargeof Sunscreen

Contamination inAquatic Parks,

Sinkholes, andBeaches ofthe

Mexican Caribbean.Appl. Sci.2021,

11 , 6882.https://doi.or g/

10.3390/app11156882

Received: 13May 2021

Accepted: 14July 2021

Published: 27July 2021

Publisher'sNote:MDPI staysneutral

with regardtojurisdictionalclaims in published mapsand institutionalaf l- iations.Copyright:©2021 bythe authors.

Licensee MDPI,Basel, Switzerland.

This articleisan openaccess article

distributed underthe termsand conditions ofthe Creative Commons

Attribution (CCBY) license(https://

creativecommons.org/licenses/by/

4.0/).1Centrode Investigación Cientíca deY ucatán A.C.,Unidad deCiencias delAgua, Cancún CP77524, Mexico;

rleal@cicy.mx

2Ponticia UniversidadCat ólica dePuerto Rico,Ponce, PR00717, USA;kfeblesmor eno@pucpr.edu

3Department ofGeographic andAtmospheric Sciences,Northern IllinoisUniversity ,DeKalb, IL60115, USA;

ehernandezyac@ucmerced.edu(E.H.-Y .);cgallaher@niu.edu(C.M.G.)

4Department ofGeology andEnvir onmentalGeosciences, NorthernIllinoisUniversity, Dekalb,IL 60115,USA;

lenczewski@niu.edu *Correspondence:dr .diegocasas.asesor@gmail.com(D.A.C.-B.);jesus.alvarado@cicy.mx (J.A.-F.);

Tel.:+52-(998)-211-3008 (ext.122) (J.A.-F.)

Abstract:

The MexicanCaribbean ispart ofthe MesoamericanBarrier ReefSystem, considered the second largestreef systemglobally.This system,as wellasinlandaquatic ecosystems,ar eat riskof

contamination dueto theintensive useof sunscreen bythe touristswho visittheRivieraMaya eachyear.At present, theregulationand managementof sunscreensare inconsistent,with mostpolicies

and legislationfocusedon thepr otectedmarine are aswithlittlecurr ent focusoninlandaquatic ecosystems. Anestimated 229.76tons ofsunscr eenar eused annually,withr esiduesputtingthe health ofthe marineand freshwater aquaticecosystems andresidentsat risk.Gr oundwateris used recreationally(e.g.,tourists swimming insinkholes orcenotes)andas householddrinking water. Tounderstand theenvir onmentalimpacts ofsunscreen useand themanagement implications,a

mixed-methods studywas carriedout, combiningsurvey andintervie wdata onhow tourists usesunscreenand theirper ceptionsof dischargeofsunscr eensinto thewater,with analysisof regional,

national andinternational policies andlegislation.Ourfindings oftouristic behaviors,gaps incurr ent legislation, andthe pollutionimplications ofdif fer entsunscr eentypesprovideusefulinformationfor futuredecision-making andthe creation ofstr ongerenvironmentalr egulations.

Keywords:

sunscreenpollution; socialper ceptions;water contamination;environmental assessments1.IntroductionThe intensiveuse ofsunscr eenin aquatictourismhasincr easedannually around

the world,particularly incoastal areas where touristsapplysunscreen tomitigatethe harmful effectssunexposur e.Although protectiveagainstthe risksof skindamage,the

widespreadapplication ofsunscr eenposes ariskforaquatic ecosystems;when peoplepartake inaquatic ac tivities,apercentageofsunscr eenapplied totheirskinis discharged

into thewater .Aquatictourism,i ncludingtourism at waterparks,publicbeaches, natural and artificialwater systems,and hydrol ogicalr eserves,hasincreasedthepr esenceof chemical contaminantsin thesurface andgr oundwatersystems. Chemicalcompounds deriving fromsunscreen havebeenidentifiedin thecoastal zonemainly where coralr eefs arelocated, inbodies ofwater withr ecreational activities,and watertr eatmentplants.

The substancescontained insunscr eenar ehighlydangerous iftheycontinueto reach aquatic systemsbecause theyhave endocrineand carcinogenic effects, andeven withhigh

doses ofex posure,theirlethalityhasbeen demonstratedin indicatoror ganisms.Ther efore, Appl.Sci.2021,11, 6882.https://doi.or g/10.3390/app11156882https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci

Appl. Sci.2021,11, 68822 of10 sunscreenpollution inecosystems isdir ectlyr elatedto anthropogenicactivities,especially

in coastaltourist destinations. In thissense, thedischar geof sunscreeninaquatic andmarine ecosystemsisaserious environmentalpr oblemforthestate ofQuintana Rooand theCaribbean coastof the Yucat n peninsulaof Mexico.Every year, more than15million touristsvisittheRiviera Maya, whichis the120 kmtourist corridorlocated betweenthe cities ofCancun andT ulum on theCaribbean coastof thestate ofQuintana Roo.Another 1.5million residents livein the stateof QuintanaRoo [1]. Sunscreenisused intensivelyby touristsand residents, yet legislation ofthese products isscarceand ambiguous inthestateof QuintanaRoo [2]. Casas-

Beltran etal. [

3] foundthat more than313tonsof sunscreen were released inthe regionover

thelast12years,andLeal-Bautistaet al.[ in thegr oundwaterflowsofQuintana Roo,which indicatest hetransport ofpollutants frominland groundwater totheCaribbeancoast. According toS nchez-Quiles etal. [ 5],

10% ofthe world"spopulation livesin coastalar eas,which are usedfor anthropogenic,

industrial, andcommer cialactivities.Inaddition, touristactivities incoastal areas are consideredimportant forthe country becausethey considerablyeconomicallybenefit society.T herefore,andaccordingtothe estimatesof Casas-Beltranetal.[ 1], thepollution due tosunscr eenuse,directly andindir ectly,isimmense; itsdischar geisrelatedtothe increasein tourism.Notably ,89% oftouristsengagein aquaticactivities, whichincr eases the potentialfor discharging chemicalsintothewater incoastal areas. Sunscreen isa mixtureof organic andinorganicsubstances, e.g.,glycerin, vitamins,silicone,benzotriazole derivatives, andnylon-derivedcompounds, whichwer edevised topr otecttheskinfr om solar radiation.This mixture dependsontheformulation andr egulationsof the final composition ofeach ingredient, thatis,eachingr edientdoes notexceed more than40%of the totalcomposition,and somear eeven lessthan 10%ofthetotal mixture [6]. Mostof the estimation ofsunscr eendischargehas beenperformedint hecoastal areas ofthe world,and mainly oncoral reefs. Itisestimatedthat more than10,000 tonsper yearar edischargedon the reefs.Thecomponent mostlikely tobe present inthe water, becauseit isfundamental for mixturesofsunscr eens,is oxybenzone;however,nanoparticles suchas TiO 2and ZnO areequally highlydanger ous[ 5]. Contaminationby sunscreen componentsisdiffi cultto quantify andestimate inwater ,but concentrationsofeven1 mg/Lwer ealr eadyr eported in theocean [7]. TheY ucatán Peninsula,in thestate ofQuintana Roo,is underlainby karst geology.Thehydr ogeologicalcharacteristics ofkarstsystemslead tohigh infiltration and permeability,whichfacilitate therapid transportof pollutantsin undergr oundflows, ultimately affectingcoastalreefs [8]. Sunscreensdirectly enterthesefresh andmarine aquatic ecosystemsas residues thatarewashed off tourists"skin,orindir ectlywhen they arewashed off duringbathingandenter thewater sanitationsystem [9,10]. Touristsare often encouragedto chooseecologically friendlyor biodegradablesunscr eenoptions, but even thosear enotwithoutrisk. Inaddition, parks,pr otectednatural areas, andcenotes invite visitorsto notuse sunscreens oruse environmentallyfriendlysunscr eens.If visitors enter thewater ,theymustwash theirbodies before doingso, withshowers thatar elocated near recreationalsites. However,Hernandez-Pedraza, etal. [11] reportedthatboth non-biodegradablesun- screensand somesunscr eenslabeled asbiodegradableare toxicto theaquatic species of QuintanaRoo. Giventhe potentialecological risk, combinedwith thelack ofclear regulations,we investigatedthe socialper ceptionsof sunscreen contaminationbyresidents and tourists,examined environmental legislationonthe useandapplicationof sunscreen, and estimatedthe totalannual discharge ofsunscr eenparticularlyinsinkholes, aquatic parks, andbeaches inthe three principaltouristic states.Fromthis, wethen constructed recommendationsfor thebetter managementof sunscreen forthe aquaticecosystems of the MexicanCaribbean.

Appl. Sci.2021,11, 68823 of10

2. Materialsand Methods

2.1. StudyAr eaIn thisstudy ,wepresent unpublisheddata fromtwoprior resear chstudies. The

first study,describedby Casas-Beltranet al.[

12], wascarried outin theRiviera Maya,

M xico. Thestudy focusedglobally onthe 120km touristcorridor thatis locatedalong the CaribbeanSea onthe Yucatan Peninsula,known astheRivieraMaya, andthat extends fromthe cityof Cancunto the townof Tulum. TheRivieraMayar eceives87% ofall tourists to M xico. Inaddition, alongthe entire coastalzone oftheMexicanCaribbean, reported for thestate ofQuintana Rooar esix protection areasofflora andfauna (381,184ha),seven national parks(26,845 ha),four biosphere reserves (853,423ha),anda sanctuary(10ha), all underthe federalcompetence. Moreover ,under stateoversight,thereare fourparks (1191 ha),thr eereserves (309,190ha),andthreear eassubject toecological conservation (2480 ha).In total,ther ear e28protected naturalareasin QuintanaRoo andmorethan 50% areaquatic ecosystemsaccor dingto theNationalInstituteof Statistics andGeography of Mexico (dataobtained from https://www.inegi.org.mx/, accessedon 10May 2021).They areinter connectedbetweenthesea andthe karstaquifer .Data forthis studywer ecollected over twoweeks inJuly 2019and consistedof surveysof visitors(tourists andlocals) to beaches, downtownar eas,andsinkholesr egarding visitors"per ceptionsofwaterquality and theuse ofsunscr een( n= 253).

2.2. Surveys

The interviewpr ocedurewascarriedoutaccor dingto Casas-Beltranet al.[ 12]. Sur- vey questionsfocused on(a) basicsociodemographic questions(age, sex,level ofstudies, place oforigin, etc.);(b) levelof environmental concern(level ofknowledge oftheimpact on theaquatic environment ofbiodegradableandnon-biodegradable sunscreen); (c)fr e- quency ofsunscr eenapplicationatdif ferent sites(sites thatwerevisitedandsunscr een was applied,such asbeaches, sinkholes,water parks,etc.); (d)choices regar dingsunscr een (non-biodegradable orbiodegradable). Datafr omthe surveyswereanalyzed usingSPSS version 26(IBM, Armonk,NY ,USA). Thenumberofsurveys ( n= 253)could ber egarded as a limitation;however ,thisisa significantef fortfor anexploratory studyin aregionwher e studies onthe impacton sunscreen are scarcegiventhe touristdestinationbeingthe most important inLatin Americaand theCaribbean.

2.3. EnvironmentalLegislation

Additionally,we drew onourprioranalysis oflaws andpolicies relevant tosinkhole environmentalr egulationbasedonthe regulatory frameworkof sunscreens application and control.We includedmunicipallaws andpolicies thatgovernkarstgr oundwater systems inCampeche, Yucat n, andQu intanaRoo[

12]. Twenty-sevendocumentsof

the environmentallegislationwer er eviewedtodetermine iftheydescribetheintegral management ofthe contaminationpr oducedby sunscreenorif they allowittobe used (sunscreens)within thepr otectednatural area.

2.4. DischargeEstimationof Sunscreens

Finally,we estimatedthe quantitiesof sunscreen potentiallydischar gedto sinkholes, aquaticparks,and beaches.Withthe dataobtainedfromthesurveys,weadjustedimportant values inthe calculationsof thedischar geof sunscreen, aformulathatwas publishedby Casas-Beltran etal. [3]. Thevalues thatwer eadjusted intheformulawer ethe following: (a) the percentageoftourists usingsunscr een(TBS; repr esentsthepercentage oftourists using sunscreen);(b)the numberof timesa touristapplied sunblock(TVEC, thenumber of times thatsunblock isapplied bya touristin aday includingsix hoursof wateractivitie s); and (c)the percentage oftouristswhoenter edan aquaticsystem toengage inwater activities (TAQ,equalto theper centageof touristswho enteranaquaticsystem), including aquatic recreationalparks,sinkholes,caverns, andbeaches.

Appl. Sci.2021,11, 68824 of10 Next, wefollowed themethodology proposed inCasas-Beltran etal.[1] tocalculate

the numberof tonsof sunscreen orsunscr eencomponentsreleased inthe waterannually. wheretotal discharge ofsunscreen(TDS) isthe totalcontaminationbysunscr een.It is also possibleto calculatethe total discharge foreachingredient ofasunscreen mixture, using thesame formulapr oposedby Casas-Beltranetal.[

1]. Inthe formula,this TDS

value ismultiplied by0.25, which corresponds tothe25%sunscr eenappliedbyone person that spreadsintothe wateronly ifthe personwho appliedthe sunscreen entersthe wa- ter [1]. Inthe aboveequation, TTyear isthe totalnumberoftourists peryear (bystate or municipally) asr eportedbytheportal ofthe nationaltourism statisticaland geographical information systemof M xico (DATATUR,website:www.datatur.sectur .gob.mx,accessed on 10 March2020). TAQisthe percentage oftourists whoenteranaquatic systemto engage in wateractivities, visitr ecreational parksthatincludewateractivities,and visitsinkholes and caverns.TBS repr esentsthepercentageoftourists usingsunscr een,which,according to Rodr guez-Fuentes etal. [13], is83.7%. Tdays istheaveragetotal numberof daysof a tourist"s stay.TGdaysr epresents theamountofsunscreenthat atourist appliesper day based onthe amountin gramsused byone personin aday asr eportedby Poigeret al.[ 14] and thedose reco mmendedbytheAmericanAcademyof Dermatology[ 14]. Thus,TG- days =1263 mg+ (3000mg/2), whichis equalto 2131.5mg or2.1315 g.TVEC isthe number of timesthat sunblockis appliedby atourist in aday includingsix hoursof wateractivities. If oneapplication occursevery twohours, thenthe TVECis equalto three. Inthe sum,the calculated valuesindicate thenumber oftons ofsunscr eenor componentsof sunscreen in the waterannually .

3. Results

The dischargeofsunscr eenin aquaticsystemsisdependent onseveral factors,in- cluding thetotal numberof touristsin ar egion,and regulations imposedby tourismsites and byenvir onmentallegislationgoverningt heusage ofsunscr eens.Theestimatedtotal dischargeof sunscreen (TDS)inQuintanaRoo ishigh. In2019, weestimate thatbetween

231 and313 tonsof sunscreen were dischargedinto freshandmarine aquaticecosystems.

Wefou ndthatthelar gestquantities ofsunscr eenweredischar gedat beaches,followed by sinkholes, andfinally inlandaquatic parks(Figur e1). 1

Figure 1.

Estimated totalsunscr eendischargeby Casas-Beltran[1] andthe present studyforthe last12 yearsof tourist

activity inthe stateof QuintanaRoo, M xico. Todeterminetotal calculatedtons (TCT),we usedfield-generated surveydata to adjustthe totalestimated tons.TCT isbr okendown bystudy area: aquaticparks,sinkholes,and beaches.

Appl. Sci.2021,11, 68825 of10 In addition,our analysisof estimateddischar geover thelast 12yearsdemonstrated

an increaseinsunscr eendischar geatbeaches,water parks,andcenotes(Figur e1). The largestdi schargesofsunscreenoccurr edin thetouristdestinationsof Cancunandthe Riviera Maya,wher eweestimatedthat more than500 tonsof sunscreenwere discharged in thelast 12years. IslaMujer esand Chetumalar ethemunicipalitieswith theleast total estimated dischargeofsunscr eens. However,therateofincr easeoverthelast 12years varied bymunicipality .Theestimatedtotal sunscreen discharge atIsla Mujeresquintupled, from2 tonsin 2007to more than10 tonsin 2019.Cancunandthe RivieraMaya doubled their estimatedtotal dischar geoverthepast12years. Chetumal,as atourist destination, increasedfr omadischarge offive tonsin2007to lessthan ninetons in2019. Annual sunscreendischar geinCozumeldoubled overthe last12 years(Figur e2).

Appl. Sci.

2021
11 , x FOR PEER REVIEW 5 of 10 In addition, our analysis of estimated discharge over the last 12 years demonstrated an increase in sunscreen discharge at beaches, water parks, and cenotes (Figure 1). The largest discharges of sunscreen occurred in the tourist destinations of Cancun and the Riviera Maya, where we estimated that more than 500 tons of sunscreen were discharged in the last 12 years. Isla Mujeres and Chetumal are the municipalities with the least total estimated discharge of sunscreens. However, the rate of increase over the last 12 years varied by municipality. The estimated total sunscreen discharge at Isla Mujeres quintu- pled, from 2 tons in 2007 to more than 10 tons in 2019. Cancun and the Riviera Maya doubled their estimated total discharge over the past 12 years. Chetumal, as a tourist des- tination, increased from a discharge of five tons in 2007 to less than nine tons in 2019. Annual sunscreen discharge in Cozumel doubled over the last 12 years (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Estimation of the total discharge of sunscreen (TDS) in the five main tourist destinations of Quintana Roo,

México, over the last 12 years. (A) Total discharge of sunscreen in four important reef areas of Quintana Roo, México. (B)

Total discharge of sunscreen from

2007 to 2019 in the five principal tourism states of Quintana Roo.

Based on the results of our survey of visitors to the region, we found that approxi- mately 29% of visitors apply sunscreen when visiting a beach, and they apply it on aver- age 4.5 times per day. Sinkholes and water parks often require visitors to not apply sun- screen, which is reflected in our findings that only 2% of visitors to water parks applied sunscreen and they applied it an average of 1.5 times during their visit. Similarly, only 4% of visitors reported that they apply sunscreen when they visit a sinkhole, again applying an average of 1.5 times a day. Understanding what this means in terms of total sunscreen discharged to the region is challenging because the exact number of visitors per year to different locations is unknown as there are no public data available on total visitors. The discharge calculated in the present work was adjusted with the TBS, TVEC, and TAQ values, which depend on the behavior of the tourist. This behavior can be modified by environmental legislation. Our results of the analysis of environmental legislation are described below. There are currently no regulations regarding the use of sunscreen at beaches in the Riviera Maya, and only limited regulations elsewhere. Additionally, visitors differ in their understanding of the potential environmental harm caused by different types of sunscreen. Figure 2. Estimation ofthe totaldischar geof sunscreen(TDS)in thefive maintouristdestinationsof QuintanaRoo, M xico,

over thelast 12years. (A) Totaldischarge ofsunscreenin fourimportant reefareas ofQuintana Roo,M éxico. (B) Total

dischargeof sunscreen from2007to 2019inthefive principaltourism statesof QuintanaRoo.quotesdbs_dbs35.pdfusesText_40

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