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

The paper presents the results of determination of selected organic pollutants in atmospheric precipitation. Samples of atmospheric precipitation in the 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 sampling position on the content of samples. Two different groups of compounds were determined: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and pesticides. All applied analytical methods were previously checked out and used for other types of water samples (e.g. river waters, sea waters, drinking water). Capillary gas chromatography with specific detectors was used for final determination. Samples were collected during two separate periods of six months each, which permits us to find out some qualitative and quantitative changes of organic compounds in an urban area in different seasons. The most often detected pesticides were: terbuthylazine and chlorfenwinfos, whereas bromophos and atrazine occurred rarely. If detected, the concentration of pesticides ranged from 1 to 920 ng dm(-3). The total concentration of the measured 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 most often determined compounds. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.