A survey of contamination of surface and drinking waters around Lake Maggiore in Northern Italy with polar anthropogenic environmental pollutants has been conducted. The target analytes were polar herbicides, pharmaceuticals (including antibiotics), steroid estrogens, perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS), perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (including perfluorooctanoate PFOA), nonylphenol and its carboxylates and ethoxylates (NPEO surfactants), and triclosan, a bactericide used in personal-care products. Analysis of water samples was performed by solid-phase extraction (SPE) then liquid chromatography-triple-quadrupole (tandem) mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS). By extraction of 1-L water samples and concentration of the extract to 100 microL, method detection limits (MDLs) as low as 0.05-0.1 ng L(-1) were achieved for most compounds. Lake-water samples from seven different locations in the Southern part of Lake Maggiore and eleven samples from different tributary rivers and creeks were investigated. Rain water was also analyzed to investigate atmospheric input of the contaminants. Compounds regularly detected at very low concentrations in the lake water included: caffeine (max. concentration 124 ng L(-1)), the herbicides terbutylazine (7 ng L(-1)), atrazine (5 ng L(-1)), simazine (16 ng L(-1)), diuron (11 ng L(-1)), and atrazine-desethyl (11 ng L(-1)), the pharmaceuticals carbamazepine (9 ng L(-1)), sulfamethoxazole (10 ng L(-1)), gemfibrozil (1.7 ng L(-1)), and benzafibrate (1.2 ng L(-1)), the surfactant metabolite nonylphenol (15 ng L(-1)), its carboxylates (NPE(1)C 120 ng L(-1), NPE(2)C 7 ng L(-1), NPE(3)C 15 ng L(-1)) and ethoxylates (NPE( n )Os, n = 3-17; 300 ng L(-1)), perfluorinated surfactants (PFOS 9 ng L(-1), PFOA 3 ng L(-1)), and estrone (0.4 ng L(-1)). Levels of these compounds in drinking water produced from Lake Maggiore were almost identical with those found in the lake itself, revealing the poor performance of sand filtration and chlorination applied by the local waterworks.

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Samples of air (gas and particulate phases), bulk deposition, aquatic settling material and sediments were collected in Lake Maggiore (LM) in order to determine their content of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Air (gas and particulate phases) concentrations were 0.5 pg m(-3), 80 pg m(-3), 13 pg m(-3) and 106 pg m(-3) for SigmaPCDD/Fs, SigmaPCBs, Sigma dioxin-like PCBs (DL-PCBs) and SigmaPBDEs, respectively. Deposition fluxes ranged from 0.7 ng m(-2) d(-1) for SigmaPCDD/Fs to 32 ng m(-2) d(-1) for SigmaPCBs. Aquatic settling material presented concentrations of 0.4 ng g(-1) dry weight (dw) for SigmaPCDD/Fs, 13 ng g(-1) dw for SigmaPCB, 3.4 ng g(-1) dw for SigmaDL-PCBs and 5.7 ng g(-1) dw for SigmaPBDEs. Mean sediment concentrations were 0.4 ng g(-1) dw for SigmaPCDD/Fs, 11 ng g(-1) dw for SigmaPCB, 3 ng g(-1) dw for SigmaDL-PCBs and 5.1 ng g(-1) dw for SigmaPBDEs. Similar PCDD/F and DL-PCB congener patterns in all the environmental compartments of LM point to an important, if not dominant, contribution of atmospheric deposition as source of these pollutants into LM. In contrast, PBDE congener distribution was not similar in the different environmental compartments. BDE 47 dominated air and settling material, while BDE 209 was the predominant congener in the bulk atmospheric deposition. Moreover, sediments showed two distinct PBDE congener profiles. Lower PBDE concentrated sediments were dominated by congeners 47 and 99, while BDE 209 dominated in higher PBDE concentrated samples. This suggests the influence of local sources as well as atmospheric input of PBDEs into LM.

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