Characterization of Soil and Sediment Samples Collected from the Zadar Area, Croatia, by GC-ECD PCB Analysis and Bioassay

Abstract

There is scant data on the levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in many Central and Eastern European countries. This region has very specific environmental pollution problems due to the recent wars. This paper presents some advanced results from an investigation of the content of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in soil and sediment samples from Zadar, Croatia, obtained by GC/ECD analysis. PCB content in soil samples from the electrical transformer station in the Zadar area were analyzed from 1996 to 2004. Although the investigated area is very limited (about 200 m^2), an extremely wide range of PCB levels was found. During 1996, PCB levels in surface samples were in the range from 0.1 to 214.4 μ g g^-1 d.w. Samples collected in 2002 showed an even greater range of levels (22 samples from 0.1 to 10455 μ g g^-1 d.w.). Levels of PCBs in soil samples collected from several positions in the city of Zadar ranged from 0.01 μ g g^-1 d.w. to nearly 1000 μ g g^-1 d.w. Sediment samples from Zadar coastal waters also had a very large range of PCBs levels, from 0.05 to 8.8 μ g g^-1 d.w. In addition, as determined by microEROD analysis, all the investigated soil and sediment samples demonstrated high toxic potency. Bio-TEQ values were in the range from 302.46 pg g^-1 to 44476.19 pg g^-1 using PCB126 as reference standard.