Similar concentration of surfactants in rural and urban areas

Since surfactants are used in various products, they end up in surface and wastewater. Surfactants may therefore impact ecosystems and living organisms. Actually, only few anionic surfactants and some alkylphenols are regulated. There is no comprehensive evaluation of surfactants in the atmosphere, surfaces and waters of areas of increasing anthropic levels. Here, we measured the levels of cationic, anionic and nonionic surfactants in atmospheric precipitation, surface and run-off waters collected from urban and rural areas. Compounds were analysed by spectrophotometry. Results show that the highest contaminations of 0.058–1.3 mg/L are observed for anionic and nonionic surfactants. This finding is explained by the more frequent use of anionic and nonionic surfactants versus cationic surfactants. Results also show unexpectedly no difference of surfactant concentration between urban and rural areas.