Search

The surface water samples (1 L) were collected in autumn (November 2012), winter (March 2013), spring (May 2013) and summer (September 2013), in amber glass bottles at eight representative locations (RI, GC, GC2, RP, RO, DM, DL, DR) along the Danube River of the Novi Sad municipality, Serbia and stored at 4 °C until the analysis were performed. Samples were collected on the same day in every season and the meteorological conditions were the same for all localities within a particular season. All 32 water samples were taken at a depth of 50 cm. The position of sampling points in relation to the flow of the river could be seen in Fig. S-1. The sampling sites were selected according to the recommendations of the ICPDR's experts (The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube-ICPDR, www.icpdr.org), in order to estimate the level of violation of the ecological status of the Danube by the municipality of Novi Sad. Location RI was chosen in order to determine the status of the Danube prior to any local urban and canal tributary impact. Sampling points GC, GC2, RO and RP were positioned 100 m downstream, i.e., transversely from the four sewage discharges of the city. The locations GC and GC2 were selected to determine the influence of two biggest untreated municipal wastewater discharges (with capacity of 400 L s-1 during the dry period). The location RO was chosen to determine the influence of untreated wastewater from the oil refinery and the rain and urban runoff water from the industrial (thermal-heating plant, oil refinery) and suburban underdeveloped area. Sampling point RP was selected in order to explore the impact of untreated municipal wastewater from numerous illegal settlements with waste disposal sites and unauthorized traffic, as well as the influence of wastewater coming from two clinical centers. The sampling locations DM (central part of the river) and DL and DR (along the bank) were chosen as control sites in order to estimate the possible existence and impact intensity of the municipality of Novi Sad on the river water quality after some period (estimation of the impact of dilution, sorption and sedimentation processes). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bisphenol A (BPA) is identified as the suspected endocrine disrupter (ED) and is on the NORMAN list of emerging substances and is also on the list of substances for further investigation reported by the US EPA and European Union. Although BPA arouses a considerable public health concern, there is a general lack of the information on the levels of EDs in the countries of the Western Balkan region. A gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric method was used for the quantification of BPA in the Danube surface water samples. A solid-phase extraction procedure with two types of cartridges (C18 and Bond Elut Plexa) was used for preconcentration and removal of interferences. Characteristic chromatogram was obtained in SIM mode (retention time 15.054 min). BPA was detected in water samples collected in November 2012 on eight different locations of the Danube in the vicinity of Novi Sad, Serbia. BPA ranged from < 6 ng/L to 221.6 ng/L. Future investigations should be focused on seasonal variations of the BPA concentrations and the higher number of collected samples and more sampling sites of the Danube water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]