Screening of French groundwater for regulated and emerging contaminants

Benjamin Lopez (1) , Patrick Ollivier (1) , Anne Togola (1) , Nicole Baran (1) , Jean Philippe Ghestem (1)

1 BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM)

Nationwide screening of 411 emerging contaminants and other regulated compounds, including parent molecules and transformation products (TPs) having various uses and origins, was done at 494 groundwater sites throughout France during two sampling campaigns in the Spring and the Fall of 2011. One hundred and eighty substances (44% of the targeted compounds) were quantified in at least one sampling point. These included pharmaceuticals, industrial products, pesticides, their transformation products and other emerging compounds. Fiftyfive compounds were quantified in more than 1% of the samples. Both regulated and emerging compoundswere found. Among the unregulated compounds, acetaminophen, carbamazepine, perfluorinated compounds, dioxins/ furans, tolyltriazole, bisphenol A, triazine transformation products, and caffeine were quantified in more than 10% of the samples analyzed. Concentrations exceeding the threshold of toxicological concern of 0.1 μg/L were found for tolyltriazole, bisphenol A and some of the triazine transformation products (DEDIA). These new results should help thewater resource managers and environmental regulators develop sound policies regarding the occurrence and distribution of regulated and emerging contaminants in groundwater.

Domains: Hydrology

Benjamin Lopez, Patrick Ollivier, Anne Togola, Nicole Baran, Jean Philippe Ghestem. Screening of French groundwater for regulated and emerging contaminants. Science of the Total Environment, 2015, 518-519, pp.562-573. ⟨10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.01.110⟩. ⟨hal-01182211⟩