The nonionic surfactant pollution profile of Israel's Mediterranean Sea coastal water

Anionic and nonionic surfactants, as core components of detergent formulati ons, contribute significantly to the pollution profile of sewage and wastew aters of all kinds. In Israel about 15% of the total amount of ca. 4x10(8) m(3)/year of sewage is discharged, directly, or via receiving streams/river s, into the Mediterranean Sea. Based on our previous findings that about 85 % of the nonionic surfactants in the country sewage are nonbiodegradable al kylphenol-based ethoxylates, we have undertaken this study, aimed at mappin g the receiving eastern Mediterranean seawater with respect to its nonionic surfactant pollution profile. The total concentrations of nonionic surfact ants were found - via reverse phase HPLC determinations - to be within the range of 4.2-25.0 ppb in seawater samples taken 2-3 m off the coastline at those locations where sewage-containing streams flow into the sea. Thus, ne ither the existing sewage treatment facilities nor natural biodegradation p rocesses in receiving surface water systems are capable of avoiding this co astal water pollution. The potential estrogenic health risk of such concent rations of the anthropogenic EPEOs is dependent, among other factors,on the ir specific homological distribution, biodegradation rate (slower for those having > 10 EO units) and survival.