title: Comprehensive monitoring of organic micro-pollutants in surface and groundwater in the surrounding of a solid-waste treatment plant of Castellón, Spain.
abstract: The solid-waste treatment plant of RECIPLASA is located in the municipality of Onda (Castellón province), which is an important agricultural area of Spain, with predominance of citrus crops. In this plant, all urban solid wastes from the town of Castellón (around 200,000 inhabitants) and other smaller towns as Almassora, Benicàssim, Betxí, Borriana, L'Alcora, Onda and Vila-Real are treated. In order to evaluate the potential impact of this plant on the surrounding water, both surface and groundwater, a comprehensive monitoring of organic pollutants has been carried out along 2011, 2012 and 2013. To this aim, an advanced analytical strategy was applied for wide-scope screening, consisting on the complementary use of liquid chromatography (LC) and gas chromatography (GC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) with quadrupole (Q)-time of flight analyser (TOF). A generic solid-phase extraction with Oasis HLB cartridges was applied prior to the chromatographic analysis. The screening included more than 1500 organic pollutants as target compounds, such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, veterinary drugs, drugs of abuse, UV-filters, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), among others. Pesticides, mainly herbicides, were the compounds more frequently detected. Other compounds as antioxidants, cosmetics, drugs of abuse, PAHs, pharmaceuticals and UV filters, were also identified in the screening though at much lower frequency. Once the screening was made, quantitative analysis focused on the compounds more frequently detected was subsequently applied using LC coupled to tandem MS with triple quadrupole analyser. In this way, up to 24 pesticides and transformation products (TPs), 7 pharmaceuticals, one drug of abuse and its metabolite could be quantified at sub-ppb concentrations. Along the three years of study, ten compounds were found at concentrations higher than 0.1μg/L. Most of them were pesticides and TPs, a fact that illustrates that the main source of pollution seems to be the agricultural activities in this area.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat, E-12071 Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pitarch
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat, E-12071 Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: María Inés
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Cervera
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat, E-12071 Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: Tania
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Portolés
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat, E-12071 Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ibáñez
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat, E-12071 Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: Mercedes
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barreda
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat, E-12071 Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: Arianna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Renau-Pruñonosa
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat, E-12071 Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Morell
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat, E-12071 Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: López
authors.affiliation: RECIPLASA, Reciclados de Residuos La Plana, S.A., E-12200 Onda, Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Albarrán
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat, E-12071 Castellón, Spain. Electronic address: felix.hernandez@uji.es.
authors.forename: Félix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hernández
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D060587:Groundwater / Q000737:chemistry*; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000032:analysis; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis; D012037:Refuse Disposal; D013030:Spain; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: LC–MS/MS; Organic pollutants; Pesticides; QTOF MS; Screening of ground and surface water; Solid-waste treatment plant