Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are legacy contaminants that remain a major environmental concern and their strong adsorption affinity makes effective monitoring in rivers very challenging.
Ottavia Zoboli, opens an external URL in a new window et al. conducted a targeted survey during high-turbidity events in Austrian rivers to investigate if and to what extent monitoring programmes based on water samples may lead to an underestimation of the actual levels of transported PAHs.
The results show that, on average, analysis of bulk water samples detects only 40% of the actual total content.
While biota may be the appropriate alternative for assessing compliance with environmental quality standards and exposure risk, collection and analysis of suspended particulate matter is essential for estimating total river loads, properly understanding fate and dynamics in river systems, and validating emission and water quality models.

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