Environmental contamination with polychlorinated biphenyls in the area of their former manufacture in Slovakia

Evidently increased environmental pollution as a consequence of the 25-year manufacture of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in eastern Slovakia was ob served. PCB levels determined in ambient air, soil, surface water, bottom s ediment, wildlife (fish and game) samples collected in a potentially contam inated area of about 250 km(2) (a part of the Michalovce district) were com pared with those determined in a control area (Stropkov district). Up to 17 00 ng/m(3) were found in ambient air in a village close to a manufacturer's dumping site and a highly contaminated manufacturer's effluent canal where as PCB concentrations in ambient air samples taken in villages in the contr ol area were about 80 ng/m(3) only. While soil samples taken from the agric ultural fields of the polluted area contained PCBs at levels comparable wit h soil samples from the control area (about 0.008 mg/kg) much higher values (from 0.4 to 53 000 mg/kg) were determined in soil taken in the vicinity o f manufacturer's landfill and storage sites and especially plants preparing asphalted gravel using formerly PCBs in their heat-exchanging systems. The contamination of the Laborec river and large Zemplinska Sirava reservoir i s caused by the manufacturer's effluent canal since PCB levels in the canal sediment are still to be found about 3000 mg/kg. While PCB levels in sedim ent samples from Michalovce watercourses ranged between 1.7 and 6 mg/kg, se diment samples from the control Stropkov district ranged between 0.007 and 0.052 mg/kg only. Fish living in contaminated Michalovce waters contained a bout hundred times higher PCB levels than those caught in Stropkov ones. Si milarly, game animals shot in Michalovce forests contained several times hi gher levels than those shot in Stropkov ones. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd . All rights reserved.