Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in water samples from the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, China.

Few studies have been conducted to investigate the polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in freshwater since the volume of water needed for dioxin analysis is large. In this study, 19 water samples from the middle reaches of the Yangtze River were analysed for the levels of PCDD/Fs and dioxin-like PCBs (dl-PCBs). The results showed that the concentration ranges of PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs were 0.6-8.5 and 2.0-15.8 pg/L, respectively, which were relatively low compared with those reported in the literature. The WHO-TEQ concentration range of dioxins was 0.002-0.040 pg/L. The PCA results indicated that the main sources of PCDD/Fs may be the applications of pentachlorophenol or sodium pentachlorophenate and domestic wood and coal burning. For dl-PCBs, domestic wood burning and coal burning were the main sources.