Identification of organic micro pollutants in selected samples of the national ground water monitoring network NAQUA
One of the most important tasks of the
national ground water monitoring program in Switzerland NAQUA is the early identification
of potential contaminants. Currently a multitude of organic substances is used
in considerable amounts for various purposes in agriculture, in urban areas or
in industry. Depending on the usage site and the substance properties these
substances can reach the ground water causing an unwanted contamination. Within
the routine monitoring program only a limited number of organic contaminants
can be analyzed regularly at the NAQUA sites. To comprehensively overview the
actual exposure of the Swiss ground water with persistent organic pollutants
selected sites were analyzed with a multi compound screening method Rheinscreening-Projekt for about 200 analytes (pesticides, pharmaceuticals,
industrial chemicals, transformation products etc.). Therefore, aquifers with
predominantly agricultural as well as urban land use in the catchment area were
investigated. The goal of this project is to identify relevant contaminants in
Swiss ground waters and to include these organic pollutants into the routine
NAQUA monitoring program.
Project contractor
Federal Office for
the Environment FOEN
Publications
Hanke, I., Singer, H., McArdell, C., Brennwald, M., Muralt, R., Oechslin, R., Kipfer, R. “Arzneimittel und Pestizide im Grundwasser”, gwa, 2007, 3.
Carbamazepine concentrations at the investigated NAQUA sites