Distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water, sediment and soil in drinking water resource of Zhejiang Province, China

Abstract

The spatial and temporal distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was investigated in Qiantang River, the most important drinking water resource in Zhejiang Province, China. A total of 270 water samples, 64 sediment samples and 21 soil samples near riverbank were collected during January 2005–July 2006. The total concentrations of PAHs in water, sediments and soils ranged from 70.3 to 1844.4 ng/L, from 91.3 to 1835.2 ng/g and from 85.2 to 676.2 ng/g, respectively. The concentrations of PAHs in rural areas were lower than those in city zones. The concentrations of PAHs in July were the lowest while those in January were the highest during four seasons. The concentrations of PAHs in 2006 were compared with those in 2003 and 2005. The result showed PAHs pollution in this drinking water resource was increasing with time. The relationship between log K oc and log K ow of PAHs for field data on sediments and predicted values indicated that Qiantang River was mainly contaminated by petrogenic PAHs. The same result was obtained by the ratios of AN/(AN + Phen) and Flur/(Flur + Pye). Ratios of K oc for PAHs on sediments to that on corresponding soils indicated that PAHs in Qiantang River were mainly obtained from soil runoff.