title: Passive air sampling of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and emerging compounds in Kolkata megacity and rural mangrove wetland Sundarban in India: An approach to regional monitoring.
abstract: Polyurethane foam (PUF) disk passive air samplers were deployed concurrently at five sites across Kolkata megacity and the rural mangrove wetland of Sundarban (UNESCO World Heritage Site) between January-March in 2014. Samples were analyzed for hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), dichlorodiphenyltricholoroethanes (DDTs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Derived air concentrations (pg/m3) for Kolkata ranged: for ∑α- and γ-HCH between 70 and 207 (114 ± 62), ∑6DDTs: 127-216 (161 ± 36), ∑7PCBs: 53-213 (141 ± 64), and ∑10PBDEs: 0.30-23 (11 ± 9). Low values for all the studied POPs were recorded in the remote area of the Sundarban site (with the exception of DDTs: o,p'-DDT and p,p'-DDT), where ∑4DDTs was 161 ± 36. In particular, the site of Ballygunge, located in the southern part of Kolkata, showed the highest level of all the metabolites/congeners of POPs, suggesting a potential hot spot of usage and emissions. From HCHs, α-/γ-HCH isomers ratio was low (0.67-1.96) indicating a possible sporadic source of lindane. γ-HCH dominated the HCH signal (at 3 sites) reflecting wide spread use of lindane both in Kolkata and the Sundarban region; however, isomeric composition in Kolkata also suggests potential technical HCHs use. Among DDT metabolites, both o,p'-DDT and p,p'-DDT shared the dominant percentages accounting for ∼26-46% of total DDTs followed by p,p'-DDE (∼12-19%). The PCB congener profile was dominated by tri- and tetra-Cl at the southern and eastern part of Kolkata. These results are one of the few contributions that reports air concentrations of POPs, concurrently, at urban and remote villages in India. These data are useful to assess atmospheric pollution levels and to motivate local and regional authorities to better understand the potential human exposure risk associated to urban areas in India.
authors.affiliation: Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Research Center for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Kamenice 753/5, 625 00, Brno, Czech Republic; Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Facultad de Ciencias, Alonso de Ribera 2850, 407 01 29 Concepción, Chile; Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Ambientes Sustentables (CIBAS), Alonso de Ribera 2850, 407 01 29 Concepción, Chile; Universitá degli Studi di Siena, Dipartimento Scienze fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, Via Mattioli 4, 53100, Siena, Italy. Electronic address: gallardokarla@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Karla
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pozo
authors.affiliation: University of Calcutta, Department of Marine Science, 35 Ballygunge Circular Road, Calcutta, 700 019, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Santosh Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sarkar
authors.affiliation: Universitá degli Studi di Siena, Dipartimento Scienze fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, Via Mattioli 4, 53100, Siena, Italy.
authors.forename: Victor H
authors.initials: VH
authors.lastname: Estellano
authors.affiliation: University of Calcutta, Department of Marine Science, 35 Ballygunge Circular Road, Calcutta, 700 019, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Soumita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mitra
authors.affiliation: Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Research Center for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Kamenice 753/5, 625 00, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ondrej
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Audi
authors.affiliation: Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Research Center for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Kamenice 753/5, 625 00, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kukucka
authors.affiliation: Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Research Center for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Kamenice 753/5, 625 00, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Přibylová
authors.affiliation: Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Research Center for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Kamenice 753/5, 625 00, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klánová
authors.affiliation: Universitá degli Studi di Siena, Dipartimento Scienze fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, Via Mattioli 4, 53100, Siena, Italy.
authors.forename: Simonetta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Corsolini
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D002947:Cities; D003634:DDT / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000032:analysis*; D001556:Hexachlorocyclohexane / Q000032:analysis*; D007194:India; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*; D053833:Wetlands
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D001556:Hexachlorocyclohexane; D003634:DDT; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: DDTs; Kolkata megacity; PAS-PUF; POPs; Sundarban wetland