Seasonal fluctuations of organophosphate concentrations in precipitation and storm water runoff

Abstract

To investigate seasonal fluctuations and trends of organophosphate (flame retardants, plasticizers) concentrations in rain and snow, precipitation samples were collected in 2007–2009 period at a densely populated urban sampling site and two sparsely populated rural sampling sites in middle Germany. In addition, storm water runoff was sampled from May 2008 to April 2009 at an urban storm water holding tank (SWHT). Samples were analyzed for tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), tris(2-chloro-1-methylethyl) phosphate (TCPP), tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCP), tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBEP), tri-iso-butyl phosphate (TiBP), and tri-n-butyl phosphate (TnBP) by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry after solid phase extraction. Among the six analyzed organophosphates (OPs), TCPP dominated in all precipitation and SWHT water samples with maximum concentrations exceeding 1000 ng L −1. For all analytes, no seasonal trends were observed at the urban precipitation sampling site, although atmospheric photooxidation was expected to reduce particularly concentrations of non-chlorinated OPs during transport from urban to remote areas in summer months with higher global irradiation. In the SWHT a seasonal trend with decreasing concentrations in summer/autumn is evident for the non-chlorinated OPs due to in-lake degradation but not for the chlorinated OPs. Furthermore, an accumulation of OPs deposited in SWHTs was observed with concentrations often exceeding those observed in wet precipitation. Median concentrations of TCPP (880 ng L −1), TDCP (13 ng L −1) and TBEP (77 ng L −1) at the SWHT were more than twice as high as median concentrations measured at the urban precipitation sampling site (403 ng L −1, 5 ng L −1, and 21 ng L −1 respectively).