Teil 1: PCDD/F in Böden,Vegetation und Kuhmilch

Soil samples were taken from residential gardens, grasslands and forests at 22 locations in Marsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, and analyzed for PCDD/F. Sampling was concentrated on the vicinity of a former copper smelter where copper waste material (calledKieselrot) was deposited and emissions from former stacks contaminated a large land area. Maximum PCDD/F-concentrations were 407 ng TE GBA/kg dm in garden soil (0–30 cm depth), 98 ng TE BGA/kg dm in agricultural grassland (0–10 cm depth), 227 ng TE BGA/kg dm in wasteland, and up to 8073 ng TE BGA/kg dm in forest soils. PCDD/F-levels in soil decreased with increasing distance from the former sources providing a large historic emission problem, apart from the still existing kieselrot waste site. Ash residues from former flue gas duct showed up to 2,4 mg TE BGA/kg dm. PCDD/F-concentrations in vegetable samples from highly contaminated garden soils and grass from agricultural grassland were found to be relatively low in relation to soil values. PCDD/F-levels in salad showed a mean of 2,2 ng TE BGA/kg dm while grass concentrations were <6 ng TE BGA/kg dm. Thus, no correlation was found between soil and vegetation values with the exception for carrot roots where obviously a small transfer of PCDD/F between the two media took place. PCDD/F-content in grass taken over the vegetation period showed a tendency to increase toward the end of the growing season, which is probably related to changes in the dry matter yield over the season. No correlation was found in general between soil, grass and milk PCDD/F contents when all samples were taken from the same grassland. PCDD/F-concentrations in milk ranged between 0,6 and 1,1 pg TE BGA/g milkfat and were thus in the same range as consumer milk in the Federal Republic of Germany. PCDD/F in needles from conifers showed a clear relationship with respect to distance from the former waste site. The relatively high levels in conifer needles 36 ng TE BGA/kg dm] were obviously due to sporting activities (i.e. motocross racing where contaminated material was resuspended and deposited on surrounding trees).