Determination of nonregulated pollutants in three New Jersey publicly owned treatment works (POTWs)

Effluent from three New Jersey publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) was analyzed for the presence of semivolatile pollutants using on-column gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and positive discharge chemical ionization liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). Wastewater samples were extracted by liquid/liquid extraction and XAD-2 resin adsorption methodology. GC/MS identified 323 different compounds. Ninety-one additional components were detected by GC/MS, but could not be characterized. LC/MS analysis detected 106 compounds with the same molecular weight as those found by GC/MS. More importantly, LC/MS revealed the presence of 95 compounds that GC/MS failed to determine. This study illustrates the need for both GC/MS and LC/MS techniques in environmental analysis. Twenty of the identified compounds are known to have genotoxic and/or carcinogenic activity.