Transport of PCBs with leachate water from the contaminated soil.

Contaminated soil was taken from the area around the damaged capacitor of an electrical transformer station in Zadar (Croatia) and a phytoremediation experimental field was constructed with lysimeters. The levels of PCBs in the leachate water samples were measured nearly 3 years. The experiment was conducted under natural climatic conditions, through hot summers and mild winters. Although the amounts of leachated PCBs from the polluted soil were relatively small, their concentrations in leachate water samples from 1,500 to 29,000 ng L(-1) substantially exceeded the maximum allowed concentration of the total PCBs in the fishponds of Croatia (1 ng L(-1)).