Organic pollutants in precipitation: determination of pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Gdansk, Poland

The paper presents the results of determination of selected organic polluta nts in atmospheric precipitation. Samples of atmospheric precipitation in t he form of rain water and snow were collected in five places in the area of Gdansk, which enabled some conclusions to be drawn on the influence of sam pling position on the content of samples. Two different groups of compounds were determined: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and pesticides. A ll applied analytical methods were previously checked out and used for othe r types of water samples (e.g. river waters, sea waters, drinking water). C apillary gas chromatography with specific detectors was used for final dete rmination. Samples were collected during two separate periods of six months each, which permits us to find out some qualitative and quantitative chang es of organic compounds in an urban area in different seasons. The most oft en detected pesticides were: terbuthylazine and chlorfenwinfos, whereas bro mophos and atrazine occurred rarely. If detected, the concentration of pest icides ranged from 1 to 920 ng dm(-3). The total concentration of the measu red polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons varied between 1 ng dm(-3) and 12.8 mu g dm(-3). Among all PAHs phenanthrene, fluoranthene and pyrene were the mo st often determined compounds. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights re served.