Publication Abstract

The measurement of volatile organic compounds at UK National Monitoring Stations

V.J. Dawes and M.J. Waldock

The concentrations and distribution of 13 volatile organic compounds were determined in water samples collected from estuaries and offshore sites around the UK, using a purge and cryotrapping system coupled to GC/MS. The highest concentrations of volatiles obtained were from the Tees, Tyne, Wear, Humber, and Mersey estuaries, but very few compounds were found at detectable concentrations at the offshore sites. Chloroform and 1,1,1-trichlorethane were commonly detected (at concentrations up to 11,500 and 600 ng/l respectively), and a variety of other chlorinated and brominated compounds (1,2-dichloroethane, carbon tetrachloride, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, bromodichloromethane, dibromochloromethane and bromoform) were also detected at some sites. Benzene, toluene, xylene and ethylbenzene were rarely present at measurable concentrations (> 10 ng/l). A number of additional volatile organic compounds were tentatively identified in samples from the Tees estuary. Since the highest concentrations of volatile compounds occurred at sites close to known industrial sources it is concluded that the targeted volatile organic compounds originated mainly from anthropogenic input into the estuaries.