A MULTIRESIDUE APPROACH FOR TRACE ORGANIC POLLUTANTS - APPLICATION TOEFFLUENTS AND ASSOCIATED AQUATIC SEDIMENTS AND BIOTA FROM THE SOUTHERN CHESAPEAKE BAY DRAINAGE-BASIN 1985-1992

Most chemical monitoring approaches target a small subset of the pollu tants actually present in environmental samples. As a consequence, sig nificant information is routinely overlooked. A program was developed and applied in the southern Chesapeake Bay drainage basin to obtain a more complete picture of the diverse organic contaminants present. Fac ilities examined included military, water treatment, creosote and fuel handling, shipyard and papermill installations. Matrices analyzed wer e aqueous discharges, to assess current releases; sediments, for a mor e synoptic view; and shellfish, to examine bioavailability and bioaccu mulation. Tools used included capillary gas chromatography, electron i mpact and negative chemical ionization mass spectrometry, retention in dices, flame ionization and halogen specific detectors. The approach s uccessfully identified a number of sites in the bay drainage impacted by high concentrations of the so-called ''priority'' pollutants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PCBs and chlorinated pesticides. In addition, numerous ''non-priority'' pollutants (e.g. polychlorinate d terphenyls, nitrogen and sulfur heterocyclics, phenolics, ketones an d ethers) were identified as major contaminants.