An extensive study by Gonzalez et al. investigating persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the Argentinian Quequ´en Grande River watershed has emphasised the importance of analysing multiple matrices to gain a fuller picture of the contamination within an environment.
The group sampled water, suspended particulate material, fish muscle, local soil, plant roots, stems and leaves and river sediments. Organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers were analysed by GC-ECD, in addition isotherm studies were carried out on the compounds. PCA was carried out as part of the statistical analysis to determine patterns and groupings within the data.
In brief, the study is able to compare not only relative concentrations between the different types of pollutants but also differences in persistence and preferential degradation pathways in differing soil types. Water samples, perhaps unsurprisingly, were more subject to variation depending on how recent any of the compounds had been applied locally. Roots were found to contain more than aerial parts of the plants and fish muscle was found to contain levels of all pollutants targeted, however at levels which were not deemed a risk to human health.
This is an extensive study which incorporates a variety of matrices across an entire watershed and provides information on transformation and distribution of POPs within the catchment. This paper would be of interest to anyone working in the fields of environmental sampling, water pollution, modelling or persistent pollutants.
Organic pollutant levels in an agricultural watershed: the importance of analyzing multiple matrices for assessing streamwater pollution
Mariana Gonzalez, Karina S. B. Miglioranza, Sebastián I. Grondona, Maria Florencia Silva Barni, Daniel E. Martinez and Aránzazu Peña
DOI: 10.1039/C3EM30882K
