Selected EPs in the water of certain Polish lakes and rivers

Department of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, Rzeszow University of Technology, Powstańców Warszawy 6, 35-959 Rzeszów, phone numbers: + 48(017)8651065, +48(017)8652407, e-mail: s.ksiazek@prz.edu.pl, mkida@prz.edu.pl, pkoszel@prz.edu.pl.

^* Corresponding author: s.ksiazek@prz.edu.pl

Abstract

Negative and effectively “irreversible” changes in the environment have often been caused by one or more factors including the intensive development of new technologies, progressing urbanisation and - above all - insufficient knowledge of the properties and toxic effects of many chemicals used. Hundreds of non-natural compounds capable of exerting a negative effect on the natural environment have now been identified in it, including within the broad categories of pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Such new and emerging pollutants pose a serious threat to living organisms on account of their tendency to accumulate in certain parts of the environment. Furthermore, the substances in question may prove toxic and harmful to human beings and the environment even at low concentrations. Work described here thus had as its objective an analysis of the pollution of surface water in Poland in terms of content of organic compounds in general, and the aforementioned emerging organic pollutants in particular. Results confirm the presence in waters of such substances as phthalic esters, polybrominated diphenylethers, and organic tin compounds. Reference to average values for individual parameters in the cases of different rivers and lakes further show that, as of 2014-15, the various Polish surface waters researched were characterised by similar levels of pollution, other than in the case of naphthalene.