TY - JOUR

T1 - In Situ Catchment Scale Sampling of Emerging Contaminants Using Diffusive Gradients in Thin Films (DGT) and Traditional Grab Sampling

T2 - A Case Study of the River Thames, UK

AU - Wang, R.

AU - Biles, E.

AU - Li, Y.

AU - Juergens, M.D.

AU - Bowes, M.J.

AU - Jones, K.C.

AU - Zhang, H.

N1 - This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Environmental Science and Technology, copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.0c01584

PY - 2020/9/15

Y1 - 2020/9/15

N2 - The in situ passive sampling technique, diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT), confronts many of the challenges associated with current sampling methods used for emerging contaminants (ECs) in aquatic systems. This study compared DGT and grab sampling for their suitability to screen and monitor ECs at the catchment scale in the River Thames system (U.K.) and explored their sources and environmental fate. The ubiquitous presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals, parabens, and their metabolites is of concern. This study is the first to report organophosphate esters (OPEs) in the study area. TEP (summer 13-160 and winter 18-46, ng/L) and TCPP (summer 242-4282 and winter 215-854, ng/L) were the main OPEs. For chemicals which were relatively stable in the rivers, DGT and grab sampling were in good agreement. For chemicals which showed high variation in water bodies, DGT provided a better integral of loadings and exposure than grab sampling. DGT was not as sensitive as grab sampling under the procedures employed here, but there are several options to improve it to give comparable/better performance. DGT samples require shorter preparation time for analysis in the laboratory than grab samples. Overall, DGT can be a powerful tool to characterize ECs throughout a large dynamic water system.

AB - The in situ passive sampling technique, diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT), confronts many of the challenges associated with current sampling methods used for emerging contaminants (ECs) in aquatic systems. This study compared DGT and grab sampling for their suitability to screen and monitor ECs at the catchment scale in the River Thames system (U.K.) and explored their sources and environmental fate. The ubiquitous presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals, parabens, and their metabolites is of concern. This study is the first to report organophosphate esters (OPEs) in the study area. TEP (summer 13-160 and winter 18-46, ng/L) and TCPP (summer 242-4282 and winter 215-854, ng/L) were the main OPEs. For chemicals which were relatively stable in the rivers, DGT and grab sampling were in good agreement. For chemicals which showed high variation in water bodies, DGT provided a better integral of loadings and exposure than grab sampling. DGT was not as sensitive as grab sampling under the procedures employed here, but there are several options to improve it to give comparable/better performance. DGT samples require shorter preparation time for analysis in the laboratory than grab samples. Overall, DGT can be a powerful tool to characterize ECs throughout a large dynamic water system.

U2 - 10.1021/acs.est.0c01584

DO - 10.1021/acs.est.0c01584

M3 - Journal article

VL - 54

SP - 11155

EP - 11164

JO - Environmental Science and Technology

JF - Environmental Science and Technology

SN - 0013-936X

IS - 18

ER -