Toxic organic substances in sewage sludges: A case study of Soil‐Plant transfer †

The use of sewage sludges in agriculture has resulted in increased organic pollution of soils. A study of these pollutant transfers has been started at our research centre. The following points were particularly studied: —The penetration of organic pollutants in the plant. Does it take place at root level or by air transport? — Do the soil characteristics influence the transfer? — How does the contribution of sewage sludges influence the intake of organic pollutants? To answer these questions, we carried out a trial on contaminated sand with pure chemicals—polychlorobiphenyls (PCB) and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)—and another pot experiment on soil mixed with contaminated sewage sludges. The results show that the chosen pollutants accumulate more at root than at green part level.