Seasonal changes in nonylphenol ethoxylates and their metabolites in water and sediment of urban river polluted by nonylphenol.

Abstract

The concentrations of nonylphenol (NP), nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPnEOs: n = 1-15) and nonylphenoxy acetic acids (NPmECs: m = 1-10) in river water and sediment were determined seasonally at four sampling sites in the Kamo River, which is a typical urban river and was already known to be polluted by NP. In the water, the concentrations of NP, NPnEOs and NPmECs ranged from 0.13 to 3.65 microg/L, from 1.0 to 22.4 microg/L, and from 0.6 to 8.5 microg/L, respectively. NP, nonylphenol monoethoxylate (NP1EO), nonylphenol diethoxylate (NP2EO), nonylphenoxy acetic acid (NP1EC) and nonylphenol monoethoxy acetic acid (NP2EC) were predominant in the water. In the sediment, the concentrations of NP, NPnEOs and NPmECs ranged from 69 to 10,747 microg/kg dry weight (dw), from 74 to 6,101 microg/kg dw, and from 24 to 673 microg/kg dw, respectively. NP, NP1EO and NP2EO were predominant in the sediment. The total concentrations of NP, NPnEOs and NPmECs in both river water and sediment were higher in winter and spring than in summer and autumn. In the river water, the ratio in concentration of the sum of NP, NP1EO, NP2EO, NP1EC and NP2EC to the whole nonylphenolic compounds was correlated with water temperature. The surveyed results suggested that some point emission sources of nonylphenolic compounds were located in the river basin between the first sampling site and the second sampling site.