Contaminated Sediment as a Source of PCBs in a River System

Abstract

The transport of PCBs (Aroclor 1242) in a river system in southern Sweden was governed by outflow from sediment in a 26-ha contaminated lake. Experiments in the lake revealed that 14 g PCBs/d escaped from the sediment, while sedimentation was 3 g PCB/d. Volatilization of PCBs from the lake surface was 0.02 g/d, which was considerably higher than the atmospheric fallout [Formula: see text]. The majority of the sediment-desorbed compounds (80%) remained at the river mouth, 60 km downstream, and entered the Baltic Sea. Desorption increased the ratio of tetrachlorobiphenyls to pentachlorobiphenyls in the water. Transport across the water/air interface was higher for trichlorobiphenyls, while atmospheric deposition was dominated by penta- and hexachlorobiphenyls. Therefore, the sediment of the lake acted as a source of PCBs entering the river system as well as the atmosphere.