Environmental monitoring of selected pesticides and organic chemicals in urban stormwater recycling systems using passive sampling techniques

Abstract

Water recycling via aquifers has become a valuable tool to augment urban water supplies in many countries. This study reports the first use of passive samplers for monitoring of organic micropollutants in Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR). Five different configurations of passive samplers were deployed in a stormwater treatment wetland, groundwater monitoring wells and a recovery tank to capture a range of polar and non-polar micropollutants present in the system. The passive samplers were analysed for a suite of pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other chemicals. As a result, 17 pesticides and pesticide degradation products, 5 PAHs and 8 other organic chemicals including flame retardants and fragrances were detected in urban stormwater recharging Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) and an Aquifer Storage Transfer and Recovery (ASTR) system. Of the pesticides detected, diuron, metolachlor and chlorpyrifos were generally detected at the highest concentrations in one or more passive samplers, whereas chlorpyrifos, diuron, metolachlor, simazine, galaxolide and triallate were detected in multiple samplers. Fluorene was the PAH detected at the highest concentration and the flame retardant Tris(1-chloro-2-propyl)phosphate was the chemical detected in the greatest abundance at all sites. The passive samplers showed different efficiencies for capture of micropollutants with the Empore disc samplers giving the most reliable results. The results indicate generally low levels of organic micropollutants in the stormwater, as the contaminants detected were present at very low ng/L levels, generally two to four orders of magnitude below the drinking water guidelines (NHMRC, 2011). The efficiency of attenuation of these organic micropollutants during MAR was difficult to determine due to variations in the source water concentrations. Comparisons were made between different samplers, to give a field-based calibration where existing lab-based calibrations were unavailable.

Keywords: Managed Aquifer Recharge; Organic micropollutants; Passive samplers; Pesticides; Stormwater quality.