Surface sediment samples from four downstream sites of Tan-Sui River in Taipei metropolitan area were collected from 1997 to 1999. The semivolatile organic pollutants present in the sediments were screened by GC/MSD. Several target compounds including sixteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), seven chlorobenzenes, two phthalates and the total amount of C8-C32 aliphatic hydrocarbons were quantified. The concentration of the 16 PAHs ranges from 0.21 to 5.69 μg/g of which fluoranthene, pyrene and phenanthrene were the highest. The concentration of the total chlorobenzenes ranged from 0.04 to 5.85 μg/g. The concentration of bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate ranges from 3.8 to 35.3 μg/g and that of the total C8-C32 aliphatic hydrocarbons ranges from 0.94 to 10.6 μg/g. Some of these values are higher than similar sediment survey in Japan in the eighties. The concentration of bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate is much higher than the no-effect level (0.184 μg/g) set by McDonald. Some of the PAHs have already reached the level of biological effects. As compared with the sediment samples collected from Tou-Chien River and Pu-Ze River located at the west of Taiwan, the chlorobenzene concentrations of sediments in Tan-Sui River are 5-6 times higher, the PAHs are 6-10 times higher and the phthalates are 11-20 times higher. Nonylphenol was also commonly found in the Tan-Sui River sediment. There is a decreasing tendency of PAHs and phthalates concentration from surface to bottom for the core sample at Taipei Bridge site. Such tendency is less obvious for chlorobenzenes.

In this study, the occurrence and distribution of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), listed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), were investigated in surface sediment samples from the Hun River, northeast China. The data was then used to assess the potential ecological risk. [g,h,i]perylene) showed that they had been emitted from a number of different sources, especially the pyrolytic emissions. The results of the ecological risk assessment, which compared the PAH concentrations with the effect range low (ERL) and the effect range median (ERM) values, indicated that several individual PAH concentrations at four sites in the downstream section of the Hun River were higher than the ERM, suggesting that there was a potential ecological risk in these areas.

Forty surface sediment samples from the Hunhe River in Northeast China were evaluated for contamination by polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD). The results showed that decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) was the predominant congener, accounting for >98 % of PBDEs in all sediment. The concentrations of BDE-209 and HBCD ranged from 3.96 to 327 ng/g dry weight and 0.05 to 25.8 ng/g dry weight, respectively, suggesting that BDE-209 was more widely applied in the study area. The mean concentrations of BDE-209 and HBCD in the downstream portion of the Hunhe River (BDE-209 148 ng/g dry weight and HBCD 3.74 ng/g dry weight) were found to be relatively higher than those in the upstream portion of the Hunhe River and the Dahuofang Reservoir, revealing an association with municipal sewage and industrial effluent received from the cities of Fushun and Shenyang. γ-HBCD was the most abundant diastereoisomer of all three analyzed HBCD isomers; however, marked elevations of α-HBCD were also found in most sediment samples. Surprisingly, the relative abundance (mean 38%) of α-HBCD in sediment from the upstream portion of the Hunhe River was significantly higher (p < 0.006, t test) than those in Dahuofang Reservoir (mean 24%). Moreover, the severe heavy metal contamination associated with the frequent mining activities in this region was tentatively suggested as being responsible for the increased levels of α-HBCD.