Hazardous chemicals in waters of Lithuania

Water samples were collected from 45 locations throughout Lithuania between 1990 and 1993 as part of a study to determine the distribution and nature of hazardous chemicals in Lithuanian surface waters. Samples also were collected from groundwater beneath a pesticide storage landfill and from surface runoff water collected after an accidental fire at a pesticide storage warehouse, Organic chemicals were extracted from all the water samples by use of solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridges or disks while in Lithuania, and the cartridges and disks were taken to the United States for elution and analysis by means of gas chromatography, infrared spectrometry and mass spectrometry. The herbicide, alachlor, was identified in a surface water sample, s-triazine herbicides (simazine, atrazine, and propazine) in groundwater samples, and chlorine-substituted alkyl and aromatic carboxylic acids in the runoff water.