Chlorohydrocarbons in pulp mill effluent and the environment III. Persistent chlorohydrocarbon pollutants

Thirteen individual PCB congeners and some other persistent chlorohydrocarbons: five chlordane compounds, hexachlorocyclohexanes (α- and γ-HCH), hexachlorobenzene, p,p′-DDT, p,p′-DDD and p,p-DDE were determined in discharges of two Finnish kraft pulp mills, and in samples of water, sediment and pike (Esox lucius) in recipient and background watercourses in 1993. In addition, recipient fish samples in one of the mills caught in 1991 were analyzed. Detected levels of PCBs were 0.2 – 159 ng/L in effluents, 0.01 – 67 ng/L in water samples, 0.01 – 17 ng/g dry weight in sediments and 2 – 2400 ng/g lipid weight in fish samples. Detected levels of other chlorohydrocarbons were 0.04 – 37 ng/L in effluents, 0.004 – 8 ng/L in water samples, 0.02 – 31 ng/g dry weight in sediments and 2 – 1300 ng/g lipid weight in fish samples.