A strategy for source identification of organic pollutants in river water

Sources of organic pollution in the Oise river, France have been identified using a "mutual search" strategy. This consisted of searching the characterized discharges for compounds found in the river water and, conversely, searching river water extracts for compounds found in the discharges. The "matches" were facilitated by comparisons of retention indices on two capillary gas chromatographic columns of widely differing polarity, response factors of selective detectors, and mass spectra. These assignments were verified by the geographical correlation of the selected pollutant's point of appearance in the river with the location of the suspected source.