Survey of phthalates, alkylphenols, bisphenol A and herbicides in Spanish source waters intended for bottling

Photochemical transformation of atrazine and formation of photointermediates under conditions relevant to sunlit surface waters: laboratory measures and modelling

By combination of laboratory experiments and modelling, we show here that the main photochemical pathways leading to the transformation of atrazine (ATZ, 2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-1,3,5-triazine) in surface waters would be direct photolysis, reaction with ·OH and with the triplet states of chromophoric dissolved organic matter ((3)CDOM*). Reaction with (3)CDOM* would be favoured by elevated water depth and dissolved organic carbon content, while opposite conditions would favour direct photolysis and OH reaction. Desethylatrazine (DEA, 4-amino-2-chloro-6-isopropylamino-1,3,5-triazine) was the main detected intermediate of ATZ phototransformation. Its formation yield from ATZ (ratio of DEA formation to ATZ transformation rate) would be 0.93 ± 0.14 for ·OH, 0.55 ± 0.05 for (3)CDOM*, and 0.20 ± 0.02 for direct photolysis. Direct photolysis and ·OH reaction also yielded 4-amino-2-hydroxy-6-isopropylamino-1,3,5-triazine (DEAOH) and 6-amino-2-chloro-4-ethylamino-1,3,5-triazine (DIA). Reaction with excited triplet states also produced 2-hydroxy-4,6-diamino-1,3,5-triazine (AN) and 2-chloro-4,6-diamino-1,3,5-triazine (CAAT). Therefore, if biological processes can be neglected and if the low formation yields do not prevent detection, DEAOH and DIA could be used as markers of ATZ direct photolysis and ·OH reaction, while AN and CAAT could be markers of ATZ reaction with (3)CDOM*. Model predictions concerning ATZ phototransformation were compared with available field data from the literature. When sufficiently detailed field information was provided, good agreement was found with the model.

Determination of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and pesticides in surface and treated waters: method development and survey

Water is fundamental to the existence of life since it is essential to a series of activities, such as agriculture, power generation, and public and industrial supplies. The residual water generated by these activities is released into the environment, reaches the water systems, and becomes a potential risk to nontarget organisms. This paper reports the development and validation of a quantitative method, based on solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, for the simultaneous analysis of 18 pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and 33 pesticides in surface and drinking waters. The accuracy of the method was determined by calculating the recoveries, which ranged from 70 to 120 % for most pesticides and PPCPs, whereas limits of quantification ranged from 0.8 to 40 ng/L. After the validation step, the method was applied to drinking and surface waters. Pesticides and PPCPs were found in concentrations lower than 135.5 ng/L. The evaluation of different water sources with regard to contamination by pesticides and PPCPs has been quite poor in southern Brazil.

Phthalates in indoor dust in Kuwait: implications for non-dietary human exposure

Phthalates are semivolatile organic compounds with a ubiquitous environmental distribution. Their presence in indoor environments is linked to their use in a variety of consumer products such as children's toys, cosmetics, food packaging, flexible PVC flooring among others. The goal of this study was to investigate the occurrence and concentration of phthalates in dust from homes in Kuwait and to assess non-dietary human exposure to these phthalates. Dust samples were randomly collected from 21 homes and analyzed for eight phthalates. The concentrations of total phthalates were log normally distributed and ranged from 470 to 7800 μg/g. Five phthalates [Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), Di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP), Di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), Benzyl butyl phthalate (BzBP), and Dicyclohexyl phthalate (DcHP)] were routinely detected. The major phthalate compound was DEHP at a geometric mean concentration of 1704 μg/g (median, 2256 μg/g) accounting for 92% of the total phthalates measured. Using the measured concentrations and estimates of dust ingestion rates for children and adults, estimated human non-dietary exposure based on median phthalate concentrations ranged from 938 ng/kg-bd/day for adults to 13362 ng/kg-bd/day for toddlers. The difference in exposure estimates between children and adults in this study supports previous reports that children are at greater risk from pollutants that accumulate indoors.

Factors affecting the quality of bottled water

The ever-increasing popularity of bottled water means that it is important to analyze not only its mineral content but also, above all, its content of possible contaminants, especially the organic ones. In this respect, bottled waters are a special case, because apart from organic chemical contaminants derived from the well from which they were acquired, their secondary contamination is always possible, during treatment or storage or transport in unsuitable conditions (sunlight and elevated temperature). This paper describes how various factors, from the area around the well, and the method of drawing and treating water, to the manner in which the finished product is stored and transported may affect the quality of bottled waters. It also summarizes literature information on the levels of organic contaminants in various kinds of bottled water samples.

Screening of endocrine-disrupting phenols, herbicides, steroid estrogens, and estrogenicity in drinking water from the waterworks of 35 Italian cities and from PET-bottled mineral water

We investigated contamination by endocrine-disrupting chemicals in drinking water from 35 major Italian cities and five popular Italian brands of bottled mineral water. The quality of Italian drinking water was assessed by combing chemical analysis with bioassay to quantify specific estrogenic contaminants and to characterize the actual biological effect of the mixture of chemicals present in drinking water including the contribution of not targeted compounds. The selected contaminants were natural and synthetic steroid estrogens, alkylphenols and bisphenol A, linuron, triazine herbicides, and their metabolites. A specific analytical method was developed based on solid phase extraction of 1 L of water and concentration to 100 μL for quantification by electrospray ionization liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, achieving quantification limits of 0.05-0.36 ng/L for herbicides and 0.64-7.70 ng/L for steroids and phenols. No steroid estrogens were detected in any of the samples, while bisphenol A and nonylphenols were detected in the ranges of 0.82-102.00 and 10.30-84.00 ng/L respectively. Herbicides and their degradation products, when present, were found from slightly above the quantification limits up to 49.91 ng/L, mainly from cities in northern Italy. Chemical analyses were complemented by the performance of a bioassay for the determination of the estrogenic activity in the extracts based on the transactivation of estrogen receptor α-transfected reporter HeLa-ERE-Luciferase-Neomycin cell line. Activity was generally low with maximum estrogenicity of 13.6 pg/L estradiol equivalents.

Emerging organic contaminants in groundwater in Spain: a review of sources, recent occurrence and fate in a European context

This paper reviewed the presence of emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) that have been found in the groundwater in Spain in both, rural and urban areas. The list of compounds included pesticides, pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs), selected industrial compounds, drugs of abuse (DAs), estrogens, personal care products and life-style compounds. The main sources of pollution and possible pathways have been summarised in this review. EOCs are likely to enter to the aquifer mainly through the effluents of waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) and are present in groundwater at concentrations of ng/L to μg/L. The most studied compounds in Spanish groundwater were pesticides followed by industrial compounds and PhACs. It is important to mention that compared to other water bodies, such as rivers, groundwater is considerably less contaminated, which may be indicative of the natural attenuation capacity of the aquifers. However, some EOCs have sometimes been detected at higher concentration levels in the aquifer than in the rivers, indicating the need for further research to understand their behaviour in the aquifers. For a wide array of compounds, their maximum concentrations show values above the European groundwater quality standard for individual pesticides (0.1 μg/L). Therefore, to preserve groundwater quality against deterioration it is necessary to define environmental groundwater thresholds for the non-regulated compounds.