Comprehensive Monitoring of More Than 1000 Organic Micro-pollutants in Drainage Water: Case Study in a Rural Village with End-of-Life Vehicle Processing Activities in Northern Vietnam

A comprehensive and detailed monitoring scheme was applied to examine more than 1000 organic micro-pollutants (OMPs) in drainage water samples collected from a rural village with informal end-of-life vehicle processing activities in northern Vietnam. Concentrations of total OMPs ranged from 8900 to 34,100 (median 11,400) ng L −1 . In our water samples, major classes of organic pollutants were n -alkanes, squalane, synthetic phenolic antioxidants and derivatives (SPAs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which together accounted for 97% in average of total OMPs. Trace levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) were also detected. In particular, CB-11 (3,3′-dichlorobiphenyl), which is a minor component of technical PCB mixtures but is a dominant impurity in many organic pigments, was found in all the samples (median 0.20; range 0.14–0.23 ng L −1 ; accounting for 5% in average of total PCBs). In general, concentrations of almost all the OMPs investigated in this study were lower than critical values for any ecotoxicological risk.