Assessment of baseline levels of PCDD/F in soils in the neighbourhood of a new hazardous waste incinerator in Catalonia, Spain

In order to determine the baseline contamination by polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF) in an area from Catalonia (Spain), which will be under the influence of a new hazardous waste incinerator, PCDD/F concentrations were measured in 40 soil samples collected in the vicinity of the facility now under construction. Thirty samples represented rural soils and 10 samples urban soils. PCDD/F concentrations ranged between 0.08−8.4 ng I-TEQ/kg for rural soils and 0.63−24.2 ng I-TEQ/kg for urban soils. The mean value for the 40 samples was 1.64 ng I-TEQ/kg (dry matter). The current PCDD/F levels and profiles are comparable to those found in soils from other countries. The PCDD/F concentrations found in this study show that at present the contamination by PCDD/F in soils of the examined area is rather low.