Priority pollutants in surface waters and settleable particles within a densely urbanized area: case study of Paris (France).

Implementation of the European Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) requires Member States to expand their collective knowledge of priority pollutants (PPs) within receiving waters. To achieve this objective, information on the occurrence of PPs in surface waters and, more specifically, within densely urbanized areas needs to be collected. This study has therefore been designed to provide information on both PP occurrence and concentration build-up along a heavily urbanized transect of the Seine River in the Paris region (France).

Priority pollutants in wastewater and combined sewer overflow.

Implementation of the European Water Framework Directive and its affiliated directives requires Member States to improve their understanding of priority pollutants (PPs) in urban areas and obviously within wastewater systems. As a direct consequence, this study is intended to furnish data on both PP occurrence and the significance of concentrations in wastewater during dry and wet periods within combined sewers. Various sampling sites within the Paris combined sewer network were selected; for each sample, a total of 66 determinants, including metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, organotins, volatile organic compounds, chlorobenzenes, phthalates and alkylphenols, were analysed.

Decrease of atmospheric deposition of heavy metals in an urban area from 1994 to 2002 (Paris, France).

Total atmospheric deposition, i.e. both wet and dry ones, was sampled during three different sampling periods between 1994 and 2002.

Hydrocarbon pollution fixed to combined sewer sediment: a case study in Paris.

Over a period of two years (2000-2001), sediment samples were extracted from 40 silt traps (STs) spread through the combined sewer system of Paris. All sediment samples were analysed for physico-chemical parameters (pH, organic matter content, grain size distribution), with total hydrocarbons (THs) and 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) selected from the priority list of the US-EPA. The two main objectives of the study were (1) to determine the hydrocarbon contamination levels in the sediments of the Paris combined sewer system and (2) to investigate the PAH fingerprints in order to assess their spatial variability and to elucidate the PAH origins.