Development of a Passive Multisampling Method to Measure Dioxins/Furans and Other Contaminant Bioavailability in Aquatic Sediments

The project developed a passive sampling method utilizing polyethylene samplers to sample dioxinsfurans and a wide range of other hydrophobic organic contaminants in situ, both in sediment and the overlying water column. The sampler was tested to work both in sediments and overlying surface waters at several sites along the Passaic River NJ. Contaminant concentrations resulting from the multi-sampler deployments were compared with their concentrations in benthic invertebrates to demonstrate the ability to predict tissue concentrations. Good agreement was generally observed between porewater concentrations obtained in the laboratory and the in situ sampler for dioxinsfurans and PCBs, implying that the sampler performed well. Lipid normalized PCDDFs were better estimated in the current study from porewater and river water for the majority of the congeners.