Atmospheric deposition of PCDD/Fs near an old municipal solid waste incinerator: levels in soil and vegetation

The levels of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF) were determined in soil and vegetation samples taken f rom 24 sites in the vicinity of an old municipal solid waste incinerator (S an Adria del Besos, Barcelona, Spain). Duplicate samples were collected wit hin a radius of 3 km from the stack. PCDD/F concentrations in soils ranged from 1.22 to 34.28 ng I-TEQ/kg (d.m.) with median and mean values of 9.06 a nd 12.24 ng I-TEQ/kg, respectively. In turn, the levels of PCDD/Fs in veget ation samples ranged from 0.33 to 1.98 ng I-TEQ/kg (d.m,), with median and mean values of 0.58 and 0.70 ng I-TEQ/kg, respectively. Although the presen t PCDD/F concentrations in soil samples were higher than those recently fou nd in soils taken near other incinerators from Catalonia, they are of the s ame order of magnitude than the levels of these pollutants found in inciner ators from other countries. By contrast, the concentrations of PCDD/Fs in h erbage samples were comparable to those found in recent surveys carried out in Catalonia. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.