“…Some international studies have detected these compounds in wastewater (Olujimi et al, 2012), river water (He et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2011;Tang et al, 2012;Liu et al, 2013), seawater (Martí et al, 2011) and even in sediments (Bastos et al, 2012), and they have occasionally been detected in drinking water (Al-Saleh et al, 2011;Amiridou and Voutsa, 2011;Tang et al, 2012;Dévier et al, 2013;Blanchard et al, 2013). In the few studies published in Spain, phthalates have been analysed in wastewater, seawater and sediments (Chaler et al, 2004;Bartolomé et al, 2005;Sánchez-Avila et al, 2009;Sánchez-Avila et al, 2011;Sánchez-Avila et al, 2012), as well as in river and drinking water (tap or bottled) (Regueiro et al, 2008;Sánchez-Avila et al, 2011;Bono-Blay et al, 2012;Sánchez-Avila et al, 2012), with most such studies concentrating on the NE Mediterranean region.…”