Characterization of water quality of Almiros river (Northeastern Crete, Greece): physicochemical parameters, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and anionic detergents

Scope of the present work is (a) to explore the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) in the surface water of Almiros River, located in Heraklion, Crete, Greece and (b) to correlate the physicochemical parameters (pH, alkalinity, conductivity, total dissolved solids, salinity, chlorides, hardness) of this river using robust statistical methods. Nine water samplings were performed in Almiros River in the time period January–November 2016. Standard methods of analysis were applied to investigate the physicochemical parameters. The pollutants PAHs and SDBS were determined simultaneously by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array and fluorescence detectors. Pyrene is the abundant PAH with concentrations ranging between 0.75 and 4.89 µg/L while SDBS ranges between 3.57 and 124.3 µg/L. Additionally, the correlations between the physicochemical parameters showed that TDS, electrical conductivity, salinity and chlorides reveal a strong correlation in the entire time of water sampling.