Organic Phosphates in Surface, Ground and Drinking Water

During a survey undertaken in 1986 for triazine herbicide determination in surface and drinking water in Northern Italy,phosphate esters were found as ubiquitous interfering compounds,using the GLC technique with a nitrogen/phosphorus specific detector.As these compounds occurred very frequently at levels higher than herbicides,they were identified and quantitatively determined. TBP(tri-n-butylphosphate),TIBP (tri-iso-butylphosphate) and TCEP(tris-2chloroethylphosphate) were very frequent in river Po, river Adige and Como lake waters as well as in drinking waters derived from these surface supplies.Groundwater was much less polluted.Treatment processes could reduce this contamination: filtration on activated carbon was a veryefficient system.However,reduction of this pollution at the source,at least for the most dangerous compounds,should be the most convenient policy.