Pentachlorophenol (PCP) in the New Zealand environment: Assessment near contaminated sites and remote freshwater lakes

Since 1989 a number of studies have shown that the New Zealand environment was being contaminated by pentachlorophenol (PCP) from its use by the timber sawmilling industry. For this study, PCP was measured in different environmental matrices, water, sediments, fish muscle, fish bile and freshwater mussels, for sites near and remote from sources of contamination. In the Lake Rotorua catchment, where nine wood processing facilities occur, PCP in the lake water column did not exceed 0.04 μg.L‐1. In the lake sediments, elevated PCP concentrations were observed. Some evidence suggests that light industrial and urban catchments may contribute low levels of PCP, whereas agricultural catchments were negligible contributors. PCP was found in fish from Lake Rotorua, but concentrations in tissues were comparable to levels reported in the international literature for sites remote from contamination. PCP in sediments from remote New Zealand lakes ranged between 0.6–1.3 ng.g‐1 DW. PCP in fish and freshwater mussel tiss...