Preliminary screening of persistent organic pollutants in the water and sludge of Techirghiol Lake using GC-ECD

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are an environmental challenge and a health hazard because of their persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity, and long-range transport. The use of sapropelic sludge in medicine requires that water and sludge samples are free of pesticide residues and that their content complies with regulatory requirements. Gas chromatography with an electron capture detector (GC-ECD) was used for the preliminary screening of water and sludge of Techirghiol Lake for POPs (polychlorinated biphenyls). Slight contamination with polychlorinated biphenyl compounds is observed in both the lake water and the sludge, which may have negative effects on human health. Regarding organochlorine pesticides, significant concentrations were found in the water from Techirghiol Lake, while their concentration in the sludge was found within the limits established by the national authorities (smaller concentrations than 0.1 µg L^-1 are allowed by the national authorities), except for lindane and aldrin, for which the concentrations exceeded by far 0.1 µg L^-1.